adventures in hi-fi

[jdm56]

I had not been out comparison-shopping speakers for a good while, but I was yesterday and these are the results of my trouble:

I was basically listening to stereo pairs in the roughly $2000 range. First up was the Bose 901 Series VI at the Bose "Showcase" Store in KC MO. They had them set up in a room about the size of the public bathroom in a nice family restaurant. So they were aimed at approximately my knees. They sounded horrible. How they sell any, I'll never know. I did learn one thing though: "bass rises" according to the highly trained sales dude. Thank you very much...next!

Accent Sound had some interesting items. First up was the Klipsch RF63. Nice and clean, with good bass but a tad rough to my ears. Could have been the room, which was a little small and a bit too lively.

Focal had a very nice sounding speaker at $3000/pr. Can't recall the model, but they were new. I've seen them in all the mags lately. They use three 6.5" woofers, a 6.5" mid and a dome tweeter on top. Very smooth and refined. Nice, but a little pricey.

The Definitive Technology BP7002 was up next. Nearly as smooth as the Focal, but with more and deeper bass, and with that very cool bi-polar depth of stage. Daddy like! BUT...these speakers are not pretty. That sock motif does not do a lot for me. Next.

I wanted to hear the Energy RC70, but could only find the RC50. Poor set-up and demo which really was not fair to the speaker, but I can only judge by what I hear. Nice, but nothing special. I also heard a pair of Energy Veritas 2.3. Again, a lousy set-up and even worse demo (FM only!!) So, I can't pronounce final judgement, but based on what I heard, nothing to get yer juices flowing.

The last things I heard were B&W 703's and 604's. I owned 703's for a year, so I was familiar with them, but still it was interesting to hear them side by side with the 604. The 604's are a heck of a value at $1400, but the 703's trumped them in every way. Especially in mid and high frequency air.

So class, in summing up, I heard nothing that makes me want to dump my humble ADS speakers and Dayton subs. The Def-Techs are intriguing, and I would like to hear the new Polk RTi-A9 when it comes out in May. Suggestions, anyone?

[oldbuckster]

You never listened to a Heritage series speaker, so your comparision means nothing at this point.....KLIPSCH HERITAGE SERIES..........

[gonzp]

You never listened to a Heritage series speaker, so your comparision means nothing at this point.....KLIPSCH HERITAGE SERIES..........

Tell him how you really feel OB!!!!

[rsp1068]

Interesting read, I like the insight.

You bring up a good point about "I don't know how they sell these with the way they sound".

Many things sell themselves nowadays on pure name recoginition, and the www, How sad is that, aye?

I have a favorite high end botique I visit, and dream of the goodies they carry. Point being there staff is very knowledgable, experienced, as well as educated by the manufacturers, and if they don't know something, thats what I am told.

They are human so they have their opinions, but they are by no means kids pushin stuff to make the payment on their car stereo "system", or PS3 their workplace "advanced" them from their pay check.

The only items I buy anymore @ electronics chainstores is techie type stuff. I bought my Klipsch speakers @ the only chain store here that carries them, and it wasn't based on a demo I recieved, as 2 channel sucked in their set up. I bought a smaller pair used, knew what they were capable of, and took a leap of faith.

Wisest move I had made.

Refreshing to read a nice unbiased "take" on a day of listening.

[cjgeraci]

You never listened to a Heritage series speaker, so your comparision means nothing at this point.....KLIPSCH HERITAGE SERIES..........

Actually, Buckster, you've only been in here for about a year so you would not really know this.

JPM's owned a variety of speakers including ESS amts, Cornwalls, Klipschorns, Amrita References, B&W 703s, etc.

He made a conscious decision to turn away from Heritage long ago. So.....he does has a reference point for his point of view.

I don't agree with it, but different stokes for different folks.....

Carl.

[jdm56]

Hey, I'd still have my 5.0 klipsch heritage set-up but for the sad fact they flat did not shine in the only room I have they would even fit in. I had a pair of k-horns, a belle center and a pair of h2's for rears. My dream system realized.[H] But for reasons I'm not really sure of to this day, bass below 100Hz in that room was practically non-existant. Very rough and subjectively thin, thin, thin. Now factor in a bit of a financial pinch and I just could not see keeping that much cash (and floor space) tied up in something that would require probably two good subs to sound right. So I sold 'em.[:'(] And came out ok financially. Then I bought the B&W's and was very happy with them. Especially after adding a couple of Infinity subs I bought on ebay. With that system in the same room and set-up as the heritage system, I had great bass and all of it I could stand. Even w/o the subs the B&W's did very well in the bass, but still the sound was much smoother when the two subs were put in the rear corners.

Continuing financial problems caused me to consider selling the B&W's about a year later. I bought my ADS speakers w/o even hearing them, with the intention of A/B'ing them with the 703's. The idea being the winner stays and the loser goes. Well, I wouldn't really say the little ADS's won, but considering they cost $225 each and the 703's were $2700 for the pair, the performance advantage of the B&W's just wasn't enough to justify the price difference. So I sold the 703's on Audiogon for $2200, kept the pair of ADS HT400's and ordered one more 400 for the center channel and a pair of ADS HT300's for the back.

And now fast forward to the present. Financially, things are much better and so I've got the itch again. I still really like the ADS / Dayton system, but with the two subs in the rear of the room, I have to keep the x/o fairly low, which limits the dynamics and clarity of the system when things get to cookin'. So, I'm shopping floor-standers. There is just an ease there that is hard to duplicate with small speakers, even with subs added. I'm not sure if I want to replace the ADS/Dayton rig, or just keep it for HT and get a nice stereo pair of floor-standers for 2-channel. We'll see.

Well, sorry to bore you all with that personal slice of my audio history, but that, in a nutshell is why and how an otherwise sane individual gives up a beautiful klipsch heritage system.[]