Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

ngower said:
Gave the JBL L82s about 130 hours in my system. They were great for the first 25 or so then took a weird ugly turn up to about 100 hours. They somewhat settled down from then on, but carried an odd coloration in my space (that honestly has me wondering if they're defective) so decided to send them back.

That's like 8-9 speakers that haven't done the trick for me, back to the drawing board. Need to make a trip to some hi-fi shops and audition loads but not sure when I'll have the capacity for that.

Any folks here care to recommend anything in the `$3k or under range (cheaper the better) that is neutral/transparent/dynamic without being bright/shrill/sibilant/etc and can be run on myPMA1700NE (70x8/100x4 wpc)? I don't want a "warm" sound as it often translates to low end that is incompatible with apartment living, but like a nice midrange, articulate treble response and existent, neutral, natural low end without dominating the picture.
Click to expand...
If you've returned 9 different sets of speakers allow me to suggest it's the space and not the speakers that might be the problem? Perhaps an amp with room correction might help to solve this issue?
 
Lee Newman said:
What other speakers have you tried?
Click to expand...
I'll share brief thoughts on why they went back:

PSB X1T: too similar to current speakers (Image B6)
Denton 80: side-step from PSBs, bloated bass
Denton 85: not for me, treble was too harsh and grating
LS50 Meta: weren't for me, just didn't like their sonic signature
KEF R3 (non meta): honestly liked these but had some amp and car issues at the time and had to send them back, R3 Meta is on my audition list
MA Silver 50 7G: generally liked them, but they sounded really weird with some genres and distractingly so
L82 Classic: decent overall, but too "big" a sound for my space, and the high frequency/treble couldn't get dialed in to balance with the abundant low end
Evo 4.2: hated these

I've also heard in store auditions of some offerings from PSB, Poll, Klipsch. Klipsh Heresy, JBL 4309, Kef R3 Meta, possibly some B&W offerings (generally haven't liked them), Harbeth P3ESR XD, Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2 all on my longlist to narrow down.
 
Mather said:
If you've returned 9 different sets of speakers allow me to suggest it's the space and not the speakers that might be the problem? Perhaps an amp with room correction might help to solve this issue?
Click to expand...
That’s a thought two. Room correction should take the bass issues with a “warm” sound. In my limited experience transparent speakers often equate with a bright speaker.
 
ngower said:
I'll share brief thoughts on why they went back:

PSB X1T: too similar to current speakers (Image B6)
Denton 80: side-step from PSBs, bloated bass
Denton 85: not for me, treble was too harsh and grating
LS50 Meta: weren't for me, just didn't like their sonic signature
KEF R3 (non meta): honestly liked these but had some amp and car issues at the time and had to send them back, R3 Meta is on my audition list
MA Silver 50 7G: generally liked them, but they sounded really weird with some genres and distractingly so
L82 Classic: decent overall, but too "big" a sound for my space, and the high frequency/treble couldn't get dialed in to balance with the abundant low end
Evo 4.2: hated these

I've also heard in store auditions of some offerings from PSB, Poll, Klipsch. Klipsh Heresy, JBL 4309, Kef R3 Meta, possibly some B&W offerings (generally haven't liked them), Harbeth P3ESR XD, Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2 all on my longlist to narrow down.
Click to expand...
The R3 Meta may tick all your boxes. Probably what you should look at.
 
Mather said:
If you've returned 9 different sets of speakers allow me to suggest it's the space and not the speakers that might be the problem? Perhaps an amp with room correction might help to solve this issue?
Click to expand...
That's something I'm looking into. GIK Acoustics basically told me "we aren't for you" when I told them my wants, so I need to go back to them like "wait but really". There's really no way for me to measure my in room response of said speakers, and I don't have anything with DIRAC correction so I kind of have to accept the limitations of my space for now.

I don't plan to be in this apartment too much longer though (hoping to buy in the next year or so). Realistically no more than a few years
 
ngower said:
That's something I'm looking into. GIK Acoustics basically told me "we aren't for you" when I told them my wants, so I need to go back to them like "wait but really". There's really no way for me to measure my in room response of said speakers, and I don't have anything with DIRAC correction so I kind of have to accept the limitations of my space for now.

I don't plan to be in this apartment too much longer though (hoping to buy in the next year or so). Realistically no more than a few years
Click to expand...
You can add Dirac with a mini dsp, something like this:

DDRC-22D

The DDRC-22D interfaces via digital signals — AES-EBU on balanced XLR; coax/SPDIF on RCA, and optical/TOSLINK. The digital input source can be selected via the front panel or remote control, and all digital outputs are simultaneously active. The DDRC-22D can be simply inserted into the digital...
www.minidsp.com www.minidsp.com
 
ngower said:
That's something I'm looking into. GIK Acoustics basically told me "we aren't for you" when I told them my wants, so I need to go back to them like "wait but really". There's really no way for me to measure my in room response of said speakers, and I don't have anything with DIRAC correction so I kind of have to accept the limitations of my space for now.

I don't plan to be in this apartment too much longer though (hoping to buy in the next year or so). Realistically no more than a few years
Click to expand...
I use Dirac and while it's not exactly the most user friendly, it honestly is magic with what it can do for challenging spaces. Not to mention you can actually tailor every part of the speakers sound to your liking, completely. You can adjust literally every HZ from 30 to 20,000 to suit exactly what you want and in no way does it sound in the least bit digital despite the corrections, it's seamless. That's one of my previous target curves. You can see just how much it's yanking everything back into alignment, especially the low end.

20210213_162905 (1).jpg
 
Last edited:
Mather said:
I use Dirac and while it's not exactly the most user friendly it honestly is magic with what it can do for challenging spaces. Not to mention you can actually tailor every part of the speakers sound to your liking, completely. You can adjust literally every HZ from 30 to 20,000 to suit exactly what you want and in no way does it sound in the least bit digital despite the corrections, it's seamless. That's one of my previous target curves. You can see just how much it's yanking everything back into alignment, especially the low end.

View attachment 191967
Click to expand...
You're single handedly going to make me buy the MDC BluOS-D for my NAD aren't you...
 
ngower said:
Gave the JBL L82s about 130 hours in my system. They were great for the first 25 or so then took a weird ugly turn up to about 100 hours. They somewhat settled down from then on, but carried an odd coloration in my space (that honestly has me wondering if they're defective) so decided to send them back.

That's like 8-9 speakers that haven't done the trick for me, back to the drawing board. Need to make a trip to some hi-fi shops and audition loads but not sure when I'll have the capacity for that.

Any folks here care to recommend anything in the `$3k or under range (cheaper the better) that is neutral/transparent/dynamic without being bright/shrill/sibilant/etc and can be run on myPMA1700NE (70x8/100x4 wpc)? I don't want a "warm" sound as it often translates to low end that is incompatible with apartment living, but like a nice midrange, articulate treble response and existent, neutral, natural low end without dominating the picture.
Click to expand...
I would try the KLH Model 5s if I was you. I have no experience with them but they’re what I’d upgrade to from the Lintons for the sake of more clarity in the sound!
 
Ghost said:
I would try the KLH Model 5s if I was you. I have no experience with them but they’re what I’d upgrade to from the Lintons for the sake of more clarity in the sound!
Click to expand...
I'm not sure they'll be a good fit for my 13x12 apartment living room. I've entertained the Model 3 at their sale price, though.
 
Had the box taped and everything but took the L82s out one more time to satisfy any lingering doubts and I've been enjoying them this afternoon. I have no idea what's changed lol. Are they perfect? No. But their insane bass bloat isn't there. A few tracks that are bass-heavy to start (e.g. Khruangbin) where I've had to tone it down but all things considered it's a massive difference from where they were when I packed them up.

No idea if this'll last but enjoying it while I can and if it keeps up through the week I might cancel the RA
 
ngower said:
Had the box taped and everything but took the L82s out one more time to satisfy any lingering doubts and I've been enjoying them this afternoon. I have no idea what's changed lol. Are they perfect? No. But their insane bass bloat isn't there. A few tracks that are bass-heavy to start (e.g. Khruangbin) where I've had to tone it down but all things considered it's a massive difference from where they were when I packed them up.

No idea if this'll last but enjoying it while I can and if it keeps up through the week I might cancel the RA
Click to expand...
Have you tried adjusting the individual tone controls on them?
 
Mather said:
Have you tried adjusting the individual tone controls on them?
Click to expand...
They only have the HF dial and that’s not really been a problem (I have messed with them plenty though).

The primary issue I was having was bass just dominating the image and not in the way that JBL or Wharfedale or whoever design into their speakers.

For example right now I’m listening to Fleet Foxes A Very Lonely Solstice. Before, the timbre of the lead vocals or the guitar strings that dip low would go impossibly low and make the image sound muddy and gross while treble was peaky and maybe not shrill but….crispy? Hot? Not to this extreme but it reminded me of the cars that drive past rockin bass that shakes the neighborhood—just a type of sound that is not desirable to me at all.

So in an album like this the bloated low end and peaks of dynamic highs made it sound horrid. Now I’m listening and it’s more balanced in delivery: dynamic range is traversed without gnarly and outright bad sounding peaks and valleys.

I guess to put it as simply as possible: I had to adjust tone controls at every song before and now I have to tinker on some tracks but can usually stick in “source direct” for most. It sounds like a speaker and not a bloated mess.

I’m still skeptical, but I’ve been listening for 3-4 hours and the only time I raised an eyebrow was during a track that had distortion baked in.
 
@TenderLovingKiller® please talk me out of this...

reverb.com

TEAC A510MK2 Single Cassette Deck * Wood Case | Reverb

Hello and welcome to The Turntable Store We are a brick and mortar store located in Manheim, PA and we specialize in Vintage Audio, mainly 70's and 80's, and Vintage Records. Please note that ALL OUR LISTINGS are for Serviced and in FULL WORKING ORDER ITEMS ( Unless specifically in...
reverb.com reverb.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top