What budget speakers you like to see reviewed?

[amirm]

Hello Amirm, any chance to get the s3000pro reviewed?

Thanks.

Not with me buying it at $800. Maybe someone will offer one for testing.

 

[MZKM]

Not with me buying it at $800. Maybe someone will offer one for testing.

Has anyone offered the Emotiva B1+, HTD Level 3 bookshelf, Chane A1.5, or HSU HB-1 MK2?

Those are the most popular internet Direct recommendations in the $200-$400 range. The ELAC Debut line is the only non ID models I see recommended in that price range.

Unless your backlog is still strong, you could crowdfund purchases (outside of the regular site donations). This is what Zeos does, he uses his Patreon to fund his purchases and then he picks some to sell back to his Patreons in a no reserve bidding auction. This gives an incentive for those to be a donor as they can potentially snag a product for a good deal. Zeos orders what he wants, but RTINGS has a ranking of products that you can vote on (open to all, but I think donors get more voting power).

 

[Angsty]

I'd like these to be reviewed, they are fairly cheap in price. Wharfedale Diamond 225.

The Wharfedale Diamond 220 is now available for $199 via Amazon.

 

[richard12511]

JBL 580 are 63% off right now. https://www.jbl.com/STUDIO+580BK.ht...Vg4bACh03MAErEAAYASAAEgK3CfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[richard12511]

Has anyone offered the Emotiva B1+, HTD Level 3 bookshelf, Chane A1.5, or HSU HB-1 MK2?

Those are the most popular internet Direct recommendations in the $200-$400 range. The ELAC Debut line is the only non ID models I see recommended in that price range.

Unless your backlog is still strong, you could crowdfund purchases (outside of the regular site donations). This is what Zeos does, he uses his Patreon to fund his purchases and then he picks some to sell back to his Patreons in a no reserve bidding auction. This gives an incentive for those to be a donor as they can potentially snag a product for a good deal. Zeos orders what he wants, but RTINGS has a ranking of products that you can vote on (open to all, but I think donors get more voting power).

I'd really like to see the Emotiva and Chane.

 

[MZKM]

Neumi BS5 $90 on Amazon; Joe-N-Tell & Zeos have these favorable reviews, maybe this will snap the <$100 king ranking, which is the Micca MB42X right now, but seeing as how the more expensive RB42 did poorly, I can’t even imagine how the MB42X measures. The baffle is rounded off on the sides, something I haven’t seen in this price range.

 

[escape2]

Another suggestion for future testing: Q Acoustics 3030i.

 

[enricoh]

PSB Alpha P5

 

[MZKM]

PSB Alpha P5

Not pretty at all
I don’t design speakers, so is that huge issue around 750Hz due to no battle step compensation)

 

[thewas]

Baffle step never rises sharply like that, but smoothly like in the plots below
https://sound-au.com/bafflestep.htm
http://www.dddac.de/baffle.htm
http://www.donhighend.de/?page_id=4093

 

[monsieurR]

Dali Spector 3. I have it with Tom's Modulus 86 + Topping DX3 as dac. It sounds really good. It's on Amazon $249 for now.
https://www.amazon.com/DALI-5703120...keywords=dali+spektor+1&qid=1580783286&sr=8-2

best choice i heard

 

[amirm]

The Wharfedale Diamond 220 is now available for $199 via Amazon.

Another site says they are discontinued. If so, the review won't be as useful.

 

[josh358]

Some type of panel or electrostatic speaker. Magnepan, Sanders, MartinLogan, etc. I've read that Magnepan won't even submit their's for test as they don't get good results. Yet lots of people like them (myself included). It would be interesting to see the data and resulting discussion.

I think most of that has to do with Stereophile's measurement methods. There are several issues.

One is that they they measure bass response in the near field. You can't do that with a large dipole, as it will show a large apparent bass boost. They have to be measured at a typical listening distance so that dipole cancellation can occur.

Another is that it's challenging to get a meaningful waterfall plot from a tall line source. The speaker has to be far enough from surfaces so that you can gate our the room reflections while still getting a meaningful measurement. Which pretty much means you have to fly them outside or in a gymnasium. (If you measure them up close in a normal room, you'll see a very clean waterfall, but it's questionable what *that* means as well.)

Then there's the matter of room interaction. This is an issue with all speakers, of course, but as anyone who has ever set up dipoles knows, it's more of an issue with dipoles! There are both positives and negatives here. Among the negatives, front wall reflections produce a dip in the range from 100-200 Hz. Omnis have a similar issue (at different frequencies), but with an omni, you can split the difference between the x, y, and z axes to minimize the effect, whereas a dipole gives you little leeway and results in a dip that can't be equalized out. The other is that dipoles don't excite the x- and y-axis axial modes. This means that they have a smoother bass response in an ordinary room than omnis; in practice, you need to use four omnidirectional woofers to get comparable response.

Finally, I've been told that JA aligns his measurement microphone with the physical axis. That likely works with a loudspeaker in which the drivers are arrayed vertically, but when they are horizontal, the crossover lobes will be horizontal and the maximally flat response will depend on the specific crossover. Which is to say that the proper listening/measurement position for determining on-axis response will depend on the crossover.

Another consideration -- the 1 meter sensitivity spec of a line source is misleading since the radiation of a line source falls off as 1/R rather than as 1/R^2. So at a typical listening distance the effective sensitivity is higher than the 1 meter measurement would suggest.

Finally, there are some things that aren't reflected in the typical measurements at all. One is that the dipole radiation pattern has specific psychoacoustic effects. An omni/cardioid will reflect mostly from the side walls above bass frequencies, and this will tend to broaden the image. With a dipole, on the other hand, the side wall first reflections tend to be weak because they fall in the dipole null, while the front wall first reflection and the front wall second reflections are strong. In practice, this means that they will develop enhanced depth rather than width, particularly when they're far enough out from the wall to delay the first reflection by 20 ms or so (a good concert hall has an ITDG of 20-25 ms).

JA has a good discussion of some of these issues in his LRS review:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/magnepan-lrs-loudspeaker-measurements

But many people skip the text and just look at the measurements, and that's why Magnepan has an issue from a marketing perspective. If you look at the measurements of the LRS with these caveats, you'll see that what the listener actually hears is good on-axis response with a gentle house curve, but if you just look at the frequency response without taking these considerations into account it looks dreadful -- absurdly emphasized low end, suckout at the crossover point, and tilted down.

 

[Ron Texas]

B&W 6xx and some more Elac Debut series. If you can get it Best Buy or Guitar Center there is going to be a lot of interest.

 

[josh358]

I don't know if they are making these as they are impossible to find online.

You can buy them on Magnepan's website. They have a 30-day guarantee, so you can send them back after testing.

 

[krabapple]

Paradigm Cinema 100 CT
https://www.paradigm.com/en/systems/cinema-100
$329/pr

5 of them make up the LCR/S of wirecutter.com's recommended 'compact' surround sound loudspeaker system.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

Would love to see Apple HomePod vs. KEF R3 deathmatch

 

[amirm]

You can buy them on Magnepan's website. They have a 30-day guarantee, so you can send them back after testing.

I tried. Stopped after it asked me to fill out a long "Submit a Purchase Request." It wants to know my amplifier and other nonsense.

 

[amirm]

Would love to see Apple HomePod vs. KEF R3 deathmatch

I can't drive the Homepod because it doesn't have line in.

 

[amirm]

B&W 6xx and some more Elac Debut series.

Another Elac Debut is coming soon.