What’s your endgame speaker setup for critical listening?

[Diplo]

If you had an unlimited budget…

 

[JRS]

Sanders Model E

with this https://www.youtube.com22/watch?v=r161zrgV1HQ

 

[napfkuchen]

Probably a pair of these, flush mounted behind an acoustically transparent screen as part of an immersive music setup / home cinema in an acoustically treated room.

 

[Bleib]

This has been asked before but something like this.. The floorstanders alone has a maximum soundpressure of 124dB

 

[MaxwellsEq]

If space and acoustic treatments were unlimited, it would probably be something like this.

 

[fpitas]

I could be happy a long time with JBL K2 S9900s:

Although Revel Salon2s sure sound nice, too.

 

[JSmith]

If you had an unlimited budget…

Princess - Duntech

Sovereign - Duntech

JSmith

 

[fpitas]

Princess - Duntech

Sovereign - Duntech

JSmith

True believers in MTM!

 

[JSmith]

True believers in MTM!

Dunlavy style...

SoundStageAustralia.com - Duntech Audio Senator Loudspeakers

www.soundstageaustralia.com

Of course, Duntech design exactness became synonymous with several technologies and functional aspects that have become rigorous “Duntech Prime Directives”, a set of tenets company owner Kiat Low refers to as non-negotiable. The John Dunlavy doctrines demand first-order crossover networks fine-tuned to provide time and pulse coherence with support from stepped baffles and symmetrical driver arrays in physical acoustic centre alignment. Heavy-duty felt around the drivers’ periphery helps the accuracy of propagation by cancelling stepped baffle diffraction irregularities.

While in principle the physical features of such a cabinet’s design may seem easy enough to implement by skilled craftsmen, the temporal aspects of such an endeavour as it relates to the technical relationship with the crossover and, ultimately, with human hearing can be complex. That the Duntech Audio engineers are able to achieve the target mandate is not trivial.

Further, the design mandate dictates very flat amplitude and phase responses within the audible frequency range aided by sealed enclosures associated with transient accuracy and gentle roll-off across the low-end. By design, the first-order crossover’s inherent principles allow time and phase coherence in conjunction with pulse and transient accuracy at a listening position approximately 3m to 3.5m. All of these laws and design aspects carry through to Duntech Audio’s current designs including, finally, the subject at hand the new Senator loudspeakers.

JSmith

 

[fpitas]

Dunlavy style...

SoundStageAustralia.com - Duntech Audio Senator Loudspeakers

www.soundstageaustralia.com

JSmith

I chose MTM for my DIYs. It has pros and cons. Clarity is a big pro, but can become a con if the recording is not good. Overall though, I'm happy with the design choice.

 

[Mr. Widget]

Probably a pair of these, flush mounted behind an acoustically transparent screen as part of an immersive music setup / home cinema in an acoustically treated room.

If space and acoustic treatments were unlimited, it would probably be something like this.

My cost no object dream speakers would be in the same vein. Ideally the room would be purpose built with an acoustically transparent wall to hide the massive and not terribly attractive speakers... and could come in handy for double blind tests as well.

I have heard the Meyer Sound Blue Horns a few times and they are truly stunning.

 

[JRS]

I chose MTM for my DIYs. It has pros and cons. Clarity is a big pro, but can become a con if the recording is not good. Overall though, I'm happy with the design choice.

I had the privilege of auditioning the SC IV's at John's factory/engineering lab in Colo Springs. Interesting guy--speakers were definitely a sideline but labor of love. I ended up buying them.

 

[ahofer]

Princess - Duntech

Sovereign - Duntech

JSmith

One of my earliest revelatory listening experiences, at a Tweeter Etc. in New Haven, 1986. Duntech Sovereigns with Threshold amps, listening to Graceland.

 

[GXAlan]

The Blue Horns are great when you don’t care about looks (and prioritize sound quality.). Besides Meyer Sound’s proven transducers and designs, it has a fancy DSP

US9992573B1 - Phase inversion filter for correcting low frequency phase distortion in a loudspeaker system - Google Patents

A filter for correcting phase distortion produced at low frequencies in a loudspeaker system is created by inverting the phase response of the determined complex-valued frequency response of a loudspeaker system. The inverted phase response is obtained by taking the complex conjugate of the...

patents.google.com

In a living environment, I think I would go for MBL or vintage JBL Everest DD55000. Critical listening solo isn’t much fun. Focused music listening is more fun with friends, and the sweet spot widening capabilities of MBL omnipolars and JBL asymmetrical horns are genuinely a more satisfying experience than the ultra resolution of a single seat (imho).

 

[puppet]

I'd give my budget to Greg Timbers and wait for delivery.

 

[fpitas]

I'd give my budget to Greg Timbers and wait for delivery.

Yes, JBL made quite a statement when they sidelined him. And just like the old saying goes, it's best to say nothing rather than be proven an idiot.

 

[Mr. Widget]

I'd give my budget to Greg Timbers and wait for delivery.

That's not a terrible idea! You would also need to find a fabricator and a prototyper... it would be a fun project though. I bet Greg could be talked into it. Even after all these years, he still gets excited by the challenge.

 

[Steve Dallas]

I am a rather simple person. Blade Metas or Salon 2s depending upon the room.

 

[3125b]

Basing this on my current living space:
I'm really happy with my coaxials, so maybe a pair of Geithain RL 801K with a couple subs.
If I had a mansion this might be different, but that's a fairly complex scenario.

 

[fpitas]

Yeah, I'm happy with my DIY. But sometimes I do wonder what commercial offerings I could live with.