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You have $4000. What speakers do you buy?

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flyzipper

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With that kind of reasoning, you can't even be sure that OP asks a question and wants an answer.
It's clearly not a free-for-all. Which would be quite uninteresting, to be honest.

You guys act like there's never been a thread on this forum that simply asks for people's opinions for the sake of it. :)

Based on a subsequent post from the OP, I concede that they're looking for recommendations for themselves.

That, however, doesn't matter. OP asked, "You have $4000. What speakers do you buy?", and why? With no stipulated use-case or requirements other than price from the OP, everyone who offered a suggestion was revealing their personal preference. It's a non-controversial statement I made as a response to this claim...

preference isn't real
 

Jawfxr

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I agree with Slayer. It appears you provided an opportunity for people make personal recommendations based upon their experience vs recommendations that you could use to help in your search. Sorry, there's not an answer for that. My speakers may not work in your environment. My cables and equipment are most likely different, not to mention the most important impact to the resulting sound being the room shape and dimensions. You'll need to explore, read, listen, research and after all that you still may need to do more. But it's not about the end game it's about the journey. BTW, you'll find phenomenal equipment that is in stellar shape on audiogon.com. For 4K you probably can score the speaker of your dreams that had an original MSRP of double or triple your price range. Check it out and enjoy the ride.
 

FrantzM

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Hi

These kinds of threads tend to deteriorate. For those like me who have no way to listen for themselves they remain interesting and a source of information, personal tastes notwithstanding.
Speaking for myself and hoping it helps further the conversation. A few years ago I would not even think about an endgame speaker at $4000 a pair. ASR has taught us that superior performance is attainable with research, thoroughness at sensible prices.

I would say that, it depends on the size of the room. I transitioned from a medium-largish room ( 6 x 5 x 3 ) meters L x W x H but very open on another room and with multiple open windows to a much smaller room, 4 x 3 x 2.8 , concrete, and closed. I find myself wondering if DRC and room treatments are not the solution for my HT, now perforce music system due to space constraints. I was all set on getting the JBL 708p and be done. I will wait and move toward DRC, smaller (but better) subs and keep the LSR 308 and LSR 305 for a while....

I would say to the collective to keep posting their choices, however personal and anecdotic their rational for those, could be. We don't all have the luxury to audition... And Covid-19 may be receding, it is not over yet ... So for the majority of us, audition of various speakers may have to wait. What can't, is listening to music on a decent to good to excellent system.

I would recommend the 708p BTW ;) .... :D for a medium up to 6 x 5 x 3 room ... Subs (plural) and ways (Hardware, software) to integrate the subs (DSP + EQ) later. I like the Neumann KH310 a lot, but if buying in the USA, the JBL 708 value proposition is difficult to beat. In term of flexibility it is uncanny. See for example the EQ from @pierre which brings it to stupefying FR measurements... EQ and DSP are built-in! Come with the speakers.... Writing this ... I am more than tempted :confused: .. the current LSR 308 will be "training wheels"... :p

Peace
 
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CMOT

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I had as similar experience with buying speakers about 8 years ago. Unfortunately there is almost no where local to audition things anymore. So I read up on things, narrowed my list down to about 4 brands and 2 or so models for each brand - all towers. It was usually 2 or so because I typically selected their next to top of the line or top of the line models (unless the top of the line was something silly in MSRP like >$20k). I think set up bots to watch Ebay, audiogon, usaudiomart, etc. I ended up with a pair of monitor audio PL300's - speakers I could have never imagined owning - for less than my $4k budget! Definitely considered used - top end audio products are usually taken good care of and one sometimes stumbles on someone who likes to swap out new stuff for old fairly frequently.
 

Wes

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I agree with Slayer. It appears you provided an opportunity for people make personal recommendations based upon their experience vs recommendations that you could use to help in your search. Sorry, there's not an answer for that. My speakers may not work in your environment. My cables and equipment are most likely different, not to mention the most important impact to the resulting sound being the room shape and dimensions. You'll need to explore, read, listen, research and after all that you still may need to do more. But it's not about the end game it's about the journey. BTW, you'll find phenomenal equipment that is in stellar shape on audiogon.com. For 4K you probably can score the speaker of your dreams that had an original MSRP of double or triple your price range. Check it out and enjoy the ride.

cables?
 

MrPeabody

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Philharmonic BMR Towers (on left, BMR on right)
naked-jpg.3110426

I just want to say that these speakers are easily some of the very most handsome speakers I've ever seen. In the aesthetics department, these go up to eleven.
 

MrPeabody

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I case another vote for the Revel F208 towers.

F208_Hero_Walnut-b022a244-1605x1605px.jpg

Objectively, the F208 is the least expensive speaker that reaches a certain plateau. The F206 comes very close, but if you look at the distortion graphs, the distortion in upper bass at high volume leaves something to be desired. If you own the F208 and you throw a little party and someone says something snarky about your speakers, you have every right to throw them out of your house.
 

prerich

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No need to research, i know what the research says and while it may be logical. Unfortunately in the real world, many people are not logical. While most may and should prefer flat on axis and smooth off axis response, unfortunately not all do.



Agreed. However the speakers are the final tool in the chain and in some ways they are acting as that musical instrument. What you or I may hear coming out is not necessarily what someone else hears.


Of course if you know about your own listening preferences. You missed my point, which being, we don't know someone else's preferences, which is why i stated what i did. Not knowing someone's preferences makes it almost impossible to give a proper recommendation.
So i am not sure as to why, anything in my previous statement is being challenged. I see nothing controversial to what i previously stated.

You can have all the speaker measurements you want, in the end, most are going to go by what their ears tell them about that particular speaker.
Some prefer a brighter, darker or flat response, it's just that simple. This is why, which i thought i made it clear, I don't like to give speaker recommendations to anybody. I must admit, I'm a little perplexed on how my reasoning is being scrutinized. Anyways, cheers, I'm going to lunch.
Enjoying the dialog between you and Slayer.
 

prerich

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No need to research, i know what the research says and while it may be logical. Unfortunately in the real world, many people are not logical. While most may and should prefer flat on axis and smooth off axis response, unfortunately not all do.



Agreed. However the speakers are the final tool in the chain and in some ways they are acting as that musical instrument. What you or I may hear coming out is not necessarily what someone else hears.


Of course if you know about your own listening preferences. You missed my point, which being, we don't know someone else's preferences, which is why i stated what i did. Not knowing someone's preferences makes it almost impossible to give a proper recommendation.
So i am not sure as to why, anything in my previous statement is being challenged. I see nothing controversial to what i previously stated.

You can have all the speaker measurements you want, in the end, most are going to go by what their ears tell them about that particular speaker.
Some prefer a brighter, darker or flat response, it's just that simple. This is why, which i thought i made it clear, I don't like to give speaker recommendations to anybody. I must admit, I'm a little perplexed on how my reasoning is being scrutinized. Anyways, cheers, I'm going to lunch.
If we're going to talk measurements, would it be safe to say that even if a speaker measures well - that's may not be what the listener is hearing due to our shared flawed piece of equipment....our ears themselves (health, age, etc)? So while Slayer is logically correct, you are correct in practicality. I know that science rules here, but I've yet to see anyone take into account the most skewed piece of data...the final piece of the chain...ourselves ( I know my hearing is not what it was 20 years ago ;):D:cool:).
 

Rottmannash

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Yes, it should be possible to find a dealer willing to offer 20% off. Asking is the key. Sometimes Revel also has "B" stock that can be as much as 40 to 50% off.
He can get a pair of new F208's for far less than $4000. I know because I did.
 

restorer-john

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I just want to say that these speakers are easily some of the very most handsome speakers I've ever seen. In the aesthetics department, these go up to eleven.

You're kidding right? Surely you are.

They may well sound decent, but they just look like a nice-ish cabinet, sadly with a bunch of random, disparate, cheap and off the shelf, non-matching drivers cobbled together. Maybe that's the intention, but the kit-set look went out for me in the 1980s.
 

blestin

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For traditional passive speakers I’d recommend Selah Ceramica, Revel F208, or Philharmonic BMR Tower. (just ordered a BMR tower)
 

TheBatsEar

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I would probably get a pair of ATC SCM19 v2, a MiniDSP and a subwoofer, again.
 

amper42

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For traditional passive speakers I’d recommend Selah Ceramica, Revel F208, or Philharmonic BMR Tower. (just ordered a BMR tower)

That Selah Ceramica driver setup reminds me of the Revel F226Be with the RAAL instead of the Be. Have you taken it for a test drive?
 

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MrPeabody

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You're kidding right? Surely you are.

They may well sound decent, but they just look like a nice-ish cabinet, sadly with a bunch of random, disparate, cheap and off the shelf, non-matching drivers cobbled together. Maybe that's the intention, but the kit-set look went out for me in the 1980s.

Hmmm. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To my eye they are lovely. The wood in particular is some of the nicest I've seen, and even though I usually prefer a satin, low-gloss finish, the high-gloss finish looks good to me here. And there's nothing unattractive about the drivers. Now, with speakers generally, I prefer for the drivers to be hidden behind a grill, but then you need a grill that isn't ugly, and you have to cover up some of the wood, unless you go the hideous route of covering each driver individually with a circular grill so as to make your home speakers look like the ugly interior of a car. Yech. I think Yamaha did just this with their recent, highly expensive retro-ish speakers. Some people like high-gloss piano black, but this isn't a look that I've ever liked for the interior of a home.

So please share a pic of some speakers that you think are very attractive, so that I can make some disparaging comments about your taste.
 

Objectivist01

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I own the Canton 896.2 and they are great. The smart vento 9 would basically be the same thing tri-amped !
How did you decide that was the right speaker? Do we any measurements of it online? I looked up the older vento 890 and 809 and they measure poor. Bass rolls off very quickly than a speaker like kef r3 which is a bummer given their size.
 
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