What speaker sounds good with any type of music?

[jpm]

Klipsch or otherwise. Is there one speaker out there that can do it all with style?

[DrWho]

no

Speaker selection should always begin with the music you like and then actually going out and listening to different speakers. For example, Artto has a freaken amazing khorn setup in a dedicated room with butt loads of tweaked acoustical treatments. The music he played for me sounded freaken amazing (the best i've ever heard), but it wasn't my kind of music. In fact, the music I brought sounded like crap on his setup. There are many reasons for this, but it all comes down to what was done in the studio and how the CD was made. Different types of music were generally produced in very similar ways and thus there will be trends for what speakers work best for that particular genre. However, that's not to say that a speaker won't perform well with other types of music...they just won't be ideal. Using my example, I could take Artto's music to my house and it would sound fairly decent while my music would also sound amazing. Artto's music would however not sound nearly as good with my system as it does at his place.

In the theoretical world, an ideal speaker should be able to play any kind of music because an ideal speaker would reproduce exactly what it was being told to reproduce. Ideal speakers do not exist and thus we must choose speakers where the sonic signature (aka distortions) don't distract the listener from the music itself.

[stan krajewski]

Klipschorns.

You did not specify price, size, WAF, room size, etc. so this is what I recommend for you and for me as well. I don't have the corners right now but when I move I'll make sure my next home will accomodate them.

Properly set up its the greatest speaker of all times. 50+ years of production and we are still talking about it here. In the used market, it can be had for about $1500 - $3000. If you are really handy, you can make a pair. You or your heirs will always get your money back. And I don't see many here giving their Khorns up for anything else.

You can run them with couple of watt SET tube amp or a monster SS amp.

The footprint is actually small if you have the corners.

Plus you have this forum to exchange all sorts of ideas and variations.

A really tough act to follow.

I have Hereseys but I WILL own a pair of KHorns some day.

With all due respect to the above post, KHorns are brutally accurate. Garbage in, garbage out.

[Daddy Dee]

The answer to your questions will have to be subjective. There are people who swear by Heritage and others by Reference or something else. I'm among those who really like Klipsch Heritage speakers. I've got Khorns and Heresy's. Tonight I'm listening to Heresy's and wondering why I think I've got Khorns. Heresy's are a can't go wrong choice, IMO.

[analogman]

The Human Voice

Analogman

[Deang]

LOL, I'm a big fan of the Heresy too, and prefer it over the Cornwall. In fact, a set of Heresy's with a properly integrated sub would sound outstanding.

A speaker that "sounds good with anything", no matter what you're driving it with -- would have to be a speaker that's musical, but somewhat lacking in detail. I think the Original Advent fits this description.

[Guest Anonymous]

vienna acoustics are a speaker that generally are a good example of what you are not looking for, the guy who invented them i forgot his name (opps) but he engineered his speakers to sound best with classical music, and personally I think they sound wonderful with some mozart, but I think that for around the same price you may find that a pair os thiels or klipsch sound better with rock but lack with classical... anyways my 2 cennts

[analogman]

pay no attention to that BS behind the curtain.

Analogman

[lynnm]

Klipschorns in the perfect room fed by a great amp fed by great source components fed by great source materials.

That said there are a few great speakers out there which will equal or better the Klipschorn so long as all the qualifiers noted above are satisfied. Those that can better the Khorn are damned rare and are hellishly expensive compared to the price of even a new pair of Khorns.

In sum a quality speaker can only provide its best possible performance when everything upstream and downstream has been optimised.

[Deang]

"Pay no attention to that BS behind the curtain."

LOL. O.K. then, how about AC Delco?

[ben.]

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On 1/23/2005 12:10:20 AM lynnm wrote:

Klipschorns in the perfect room fed by a great amp fed by great source components fed by great source materials.

....Those that can better the Khorn are damned rare and are hellishly expensive compared to the price of even a new pair of Khorns.

----------------

Unfortunately, perfect rooms are more rare, and equally expensive. Khorns do manage in many rooms, thankfully. Someday, I'll build a room. Maybe. I almost think I'd rather have a room that drums, bass and piano sound right in.

[edwinr]

The Klipschorns are a great all round speaker. In saying that, there are certain CD's, that in my room at least, sound ordinary. In particular some Dire Straits recordings, and other recordings where the engineers have given CD buyers a little more bass boost than strictly necessary. This little trick is okay for bass deficient speakers, but any true full range speaker is going to reproduce what's there.

I think the Klipschorns excel on choral music and acapella tracks. The sheer voice projection capabilities of the Klipschorn has to be heard to believed. I can't think of another loudspeaker that any forum member could ever reasonably afford, that can go toe to toe with the K'horn.

There are other loudspeakers, like the better Martin Logans, that have that midrange magic. But they just don't go loud enough and require huge amplification to give their best.

[Thoriated_Tiger]

My 2¢:

A speaker which can't do it all is not worth owning.

Mine are equally at home regardless of what you're feeding them. They'll do Guns n' Roses with as much verve as they'll do The English Concert or Ron Parker.

Don't let the marketing BS some companies have sway you. Pretty names and pretty cabintes with pretty high prices do not guarantee performance.

[krustyoldsarge]

They ain't K-Horns, but my ChorusII's handle everything I throw at it pretty damn well.

[Rickieheinz]

The JBL studio monitors sound really good with rock,and pop, and sound fairly good with classical.My Klipsch rf3II's have enough bass to sound good with rock and are clear enough to sound good with classical music.Though I went to a jolida tube amp as many solid state amps are fatiguing with horn speakers.

[Dylanl]

BOSE WAVE Radio- end of discussion

[maxg]

When you ask "sounds good with any type of music" I presume you mean EQUALLY good with any type of music, and further, as good in each particular genre as the best of the best in that area.

To my knowledge that speaker has not been made - especially adding the tagline - too all listeners!!

I suspect the Avantegard Trio might come close, maybe even a B&W 801 with around 1000 watts of amplification (or an 802 with 500 I suppose).

To choose a Klipsch that might also have this ability I would probably go for an RF7 rather than the Khorn - but that is on instinct rather than experience.

[dodger]

For me, I support the Heritage Line, Heresys, or Cornwall IIs.

The quality of your equipment, and try to bring your room acoustics to a minimal factor will be a big help.

Then add in the quality of CD, LP, DVD playback.

They will sound better with some types of music and is also affected by the volume level.

You try for what sounds best to you with what you have or improvements, if needed, you wish to pay for.

dodger

[D-MAN]

If you close your eyes and the speakers and gear "goes away" and all that's left is the music, then you got it.

For me, that means horns. Big horns.

DM

[artto]

I'm using a pair a flanking Klipschorns with a Belle center. They are capable of reproducing any kind of music equally well, in the right environment. On the downside, as Dr.Who mentioned, they can ruthlessly expose recordings, associated equipment or rooms of inferior quality.