If you could pick other speakers...........

musky1963

what would you get? Every few years I seem to get "bored" or the "try something else" bug. My system sounds very nice as I have 2.3tl's. I guess my question is...........what speakers would you swap out for your big Polks? I really liked the reference Infinities(Delta/Gamma and RSIB) that I had before. Yes, I like the BIG sound .

Oldmanind

I too would like some older infinity s

txcoastal1

These

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/full-range-dynaudio-confidence-c4-signature-2013-09-03-speakers-liverpool

ratster

Maggies

Steven72555

Something other than polk.
I really would like to hear a few model from Klipsch.

boston1450

I would have some of these. They have awesome reviews & are top notch. They take up limited room & sound incredible. Ask anyone who owns them. http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/home_theater/speakers_to_pair_with_your_receiver/acoustimass_6/index.jsp otherwise some new Polk bookshelf's would be fine

musky1963

Aside from the bose and 11K references :rolleyes: ................seriously, I have been thinking of trying some different speakers. I like maggies, but really can't pull them out too far from the walls either.

treitz3

Wilson Alexia's are the only other ones on my radar.

Tom

tonyb

musky1963 wrote: »

what would you get? Every few years I seem to get "bored" or the "try something else" bug. My system sounds very nice as I have 2.3tl's. I guess my question is...........what speakers would you swap out for your big Polks? I really liked the reference Infinities(Delta/Gamma and RSIB) that I had before. Yes, I like the BIG sound .

Yeah, I like big sound too, thus I like big speakers. Moved on from SRT's to Legacy Focus 20/20's and never looked back. I'd like to hear Montana's monsters, the Kas and the Was speakers, or Legacy's Whisper HD's. The Wilson's Tom mentioned are definitely contenders too. Serious coinage there though, I think for the 4 dimes I spent on the Legacy's, I'd have to double that used to better them.

There's always a better speaker somewhere, once you get to a certain point you have to start asking yourself how much are those small....or larger improvements worth to you. I think once you enter that realm of good sound in a speaker, you need to focus more on the electronics side of the equation. Then again, the same applies, you upgrade your front end enough to say how much more coin spent will get me what in return. The old "diminishing returns " theory ? Either way, enjoy the tunes, audio isn't a race to see who has the latest and greatest and spends the most coin on the flavor of the month gear. Find your sound and relax, it's all about the music, not the gear.

txcoastal1

treitz3 wrote: »

Wilson Alexia's are the only other ones on my radar.

Tom

I will definitely be taking a gander at the Wilson room at RMAF, have never had the pleasure of listening to the line.

I would like the track from youtube advertisement video...comes across very clear and refine on my Polk TL3 computer setup, hoping Wilson has a music demo disc their handing out (Shazam doesn't pick it up)

Msabot1

Other than Polks?...Genesis 1.1's......in my dreams of course!!!

txcoastal1

DSkip wrote: »

You continue to rub this in my face. UGH! :mad:

Russman and I will send you a postcard:razz:

zingo

Monsoon FPF-1600

motorstereo

I brought home a pair of big ADS's (1530's) recently in hopes they would give my 1.2tl's a run for their money. The ADS's sound great no doubt but without that SDA effect they're essentially like every other non SDA speaker out there. To me Polk SDA is 2 channel listening on steroids and nothing else will do.

Emlyn

musky1963 wrote: »

I like maggies, but really can't pull them out too far from the walls either.

That's always proven to be a big barrier with me. I've never found a speaker design that's as full and big sounding as SDA's that can be placed close to a wall. I've heard plenty that do some things better than SDA's, usually in the area of clarity, but nothing that works better for me in total in the room I have my SDA's.

And then, there are rooms where SDA's just won't work well because of things like room width and windows, which is why I have more than one system.

treitz3

motorstereo wrote: »

I brought home a pair of big ADS's (1530's) recently in hopes they would give my 1.2tl's a run for their money. The ADS's sound great no doubt but without that SDA effect they're essentially like every other non SDA speaker out there. To me Polk SDA is 2 channel listening on steroids and nothing else will do.

Hello motorstereo. I am glad that you are happy with your Polk's. I will say this though, apparently you haven't heard a decent set of speakers such as Dynaudio [not ribbons or a plasma type speaker] with the Qol hooked up. While I will agree that the SDA from Polk was a very good thing for sound perception, there are recent advances in technology that have raised the bar to this concept.

Tom

Face

I've heard the Qol with Maggies and some "high end" full range drivers, I don't believe it's superior to a pair of modded SDA's. It definitely does add an interesting change to the sound though.

ratster

Something from Tyler is also on the "would like to try"list.

boston1450

Id like a pair of LSI9's hooked up to something pushing them properly on a HT amp. For my soon to be HT project

mhardy6647

Altec A5 with 515 woofers, 1015 multicell horns with 288 drivers, and Hiraga crossovers.

Quad ESL-63

markamerica

While I've not the budget for anything more expensive than my Polks, back in the day(1985), before I had saved up enough dough to buy the SDAs, I was acquiring audio equipment in expectation of that day, and in order to have something to listen to while I saved up for the Polks, I bought a pair of BES speakers. (Bertagni Electro-Static) I have a pair of these to this day. They're not at all like the Polks, but they're okay at lower volume settings, and their thin design and styrofoam inards makes them all together different. (Not better.) I've never really wanted anything outside of Polk.

Schurkey

Had a near-magical experience with Magnepan 3.3s back when they were current. Still have a soft-spot for the 3-series based on that. I bought a pair of monobloc Aragon Palladium II amplifiers from a guy near DC who let me listen to them powering his 20.1s; but I had my bride in the car and couldn't really take advantage of that opportunity.

NHT 3.3s had gotten rave reviews, and I really like the concept of using the back wall and the speaker side to load the bass driver. I think these speakers didn't age well; and they're long out of production.

Legacy Focus and other Legacy speakers have intrigued me for a long time. Like the NHTs, I've never listened to a pair.

I tease myself with the Carver Amazing loudspeakers; again I've never heard a pair, and they don't age well due to surround rot and ribbon problems. There's an early set for sale about 400 miles from here; but between them being an early version and the travel distance, I don't seem to be too motivated.




At whatever point I obtain non-SDA speakers, there's a Carver C9 Sonic Holography unit waiting for capacitor and circuitry upgrades sitting on a shelf here.

leftwinger57

Reality, Vandersteen 2ce 2s signatures, fantasy Klipsch Palladium, vingatge ESS HEIL amt 1s.I would still keep the Polk SDA 2Bs somwhere.

http://www.vandersteen.com/pages/2Celit2.html
http://audio-database.com/ESS/speaker/amt1-e.html
http://www.klipsch.com/palladium

oldmodman

The speaker that was shown in the opening scene from "Back to the Future"

Or the special speakers that Gene Czerwinski built for the limited first release of the movie "Earthquake" Those ridiculous SenSurround Speakers that took up three rows of seats and actually damaged some theaters structurally.
I got to sit inside them while they were being tested. I think it caused brain damage.

WLDock

I have yet to own a set of the SDA's so it would be cool to be able to have my family in the DC area pick up these like new in box SDA 1C Studio's: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/ele/4052005299.html
I remember the old Stereo Review (and Car stereo Review) days and reading about the SDA line: http://www.polksda.com/sda1creview.shtml

I also, think that I want to try a set of the LSiM703's.

Also, I want to build my first serious set of speakers. In the process of trying to listen to a set of the Jim Holtz design STATEMENTS. Been reading about many that have set these as their new reference monitor and have no desire to build anything else. Also there are some previous Magnepan owners that swithed to Statement builds and like them better.
http://speakerdesignworks.com/Statements.html

Very awesome curved exotic wood build Statements: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1354647/trompie-s-curved-statement-family-building-thread

Another contemporary design Sharkfin Statement build: http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?37637-Sharkfin-Statements-(unauthorized)

Jhayman

Would like to listen to a few actually, Legacy's assorted , some Maggie's and would like to listen to DSkip's ushers..

Ocezam

tonyb wrote: »

Find your sound and relax, it's all about the music, not the gear.

Amen brother!

We all need to remind ourselves of that from time to time.

motorstereo

treitz3 wrote: »

Hello motorstereo. I am glad that you are happy with your Polk's. I will say this though, apparently you haven't heard a decent set of speakers such as Dynaudio [not ribbons or a plasma type speaker] with the Qol hooked up. While I will agree that the SDA from Polk was a very good thing for sound perception, there are recent advances in technology that have raised the bar to this concept.

Tom

You are correct in thinking I haven't heard many newer higher end speakers. And I would hope that there have been substantial advances in speaker design over the past 25 years. Maybe someday I'll find something that'll best my 1.2s. So far though in my little corner of the planet nothing has come remotely close.

mantis

in the really real world, I'd probably focus on Revel F208's or B&W 803D's. This is where I probably would go next.
http://www.revelspeakers.com/Products/Details/223
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Speakers/Home_Audio/800_Series_Diamond/803-Diamond.html

bigaltx24

Heard some Zu Audio Omens a while back, liked what I heard.

F1nut

musky1963 wrote: »

what would you get? Every few years I seem to get "bored" or the "try something else" bug. My system sounds very nice as I have 2.3tl's. I guess my question is...........what speakers would you swap out for your big Polks? I really liked the reference Infinities(Delta/Gamma and RSIB) that I had before. Yes, I like the BIG sound .

Have you modified your 2.3TL's yet including adding the Dreadnaught? If not, you need to do so as I don't think you'll have the desire to swap them for anything else. I sure as hell don't.