Most natural sounding floorstanding speaker?

janmike

I ended up taking my best friend's date home. So much for friendship.

DollarDave

janmike wrote: »

I ended up taking my best friend's date home. So much for friendship.

Well hey, which one would you rather hang out with at your 10 or even 20 year reunion?

schwarcw

Kook at what the pro's use. Not the magazine writers and reviewers, but the guys in the studio performing the magic on the remastering. You know the guys who hate the loudness war and who are trying to preserve the best sounding recording as it was originally recorded.

Two guys come to mind, Steve Hoffman and Bob Ludwig. Steve of course has his own website where audio equipment, but mainly music is the hotly discussed topic. Steve's studio where he does his near field monitoring for the mastering, he uses Rogers BBC LS3/5a speakers . These speakers are true to form and tell no lies. What is on tape, is what is played back in the speaker. ACCURATELY! Is it natural? It's what on the tape.

Bob Ludwig at Gateway recording has remastered s boatload of SACD's for Sony and others. He probably has done more SACD's and quality SACDs than anyone else by far. Gateway studi has been nominated for 37 Grammies. Here is an interesting link on their evaluation of Monitor type speakers: Here

gdb

c-corie, what are you feeding the 11s & technics speakers with??? A low power amp or receiver MAY make the lesser speakers sound better because it doesn't have enough **** to properly power the better ones. A lot of great speakers won't even budge with an underpowered amplifier, and as a result sound bad. My .02:)

organ

Klipsch La Scala. The lack of bass can be a turn off for a lot of people.

beardog03

schwarcw wrote: »

Kook at what the pro's use. Not the magazine writers and reviewers, but the guys in the studio performing the magic on the remastering. You know the guys who hate the loudness war and who are trying to preserve the best sounding recording as it was originally recorded.

Two guys come to mind, Steve Hoffman and Bob Ludwig. Steve of course has his own website where audio equipment, but mainly music is the hotly discussed topic. Steve's studio where he does his near field monitoring for the mastering, he uses Rogers BBC LS3/5a speakers . These speakers are true to form and tell no lies. What is on tape, is what is played back in the speaker. ACCURATELY! Is it natural? It's what on the tape.

Bob Ludwig at Gateway recording has remastered s boatload of SACD's for Sony and others. He probably has done more SACD's and quality SACDs than anyone else by far. Gateway studi has been nominated for 37 Grammies. Here is an interesting link on their evaluation of Monitor type speakers: Here

Interesting read !

Thanks

beardog03

organ wrote: »

Klipsch La Scala. The lack of bass can be a turn off for a lot of people.

would be a great speak if you have the room !

megasat16

schwarcw wrote: »

Kook at what the pro's use. Not the magazine writers and reviewers, but the guys in the studio performing the magic on the remastering. You know the guys who hate the loudness war and who are trying to preserve the best sounding recording as it was originally recorded.

Two guys come to mind, Steve Hoffman and Bob Ludwig. Steve of course has his own website where audio equipment, but mainly music is the hotly discussed topic. Steve's studio where he does his near field monitoring for the mastering, he uses Rogers BBC LS3/5a speakers . These speakers are true to form and tell no lies. What is on tape, is what is played back in the speaker. ACCURATELY! Is it natural? It's what on the tape.

Bob Ludwig at Gateway recording has remastered s boatload of SACD's for Sony and others. He probably has done more SACD's and quality SACDs than anyone else by far. Gateway studi has been nominated for 37 Grammies. Here is an interesting link on their evaluation of Monitor type speakers: Here

Interesting topic but I want to bring up one topic here. As with all of us, these musicians has their own preferences to them and what they use is what seems to be true to their ears. It's doubtfully the same for everyone else. But in General, yes, what's good for them should be good for most of us but it can be hotly debated.

I agree on this statement - "These speakers are true to form and tell no lies. What is on tape, is what is played back in the speaker. ACCURATELY! Is it natural? It's what on the tape". If you own a system (not just speaker) that can accurately up to 99% of what's been recorded onto the media during mastering can be achieved, I'd say it's darn good to be original and natural sounding system.

I know all of you know that good speakers are only an integral part of a good system and all the other things (source, materials, cables, rooms, amplifications; etc.) all needs to play along right with it too. Synergy is never been my favorite word in the dictionary so I am saying it in the simple form.

dorokusai

Magnepan.

McLoki

organ wrote: »

Klipsch La Scala. The lack of bass can be a turn off for a lot of people.

As can the ice pick pressed against your ears....

dorokusai

Amen.

c_corie

I'm using a Yamaha 50W Stereo reciever, it seems to power them pretty well.

Sort of still on topic, i think for fun/christmas i might get 2 TAD "Aural Ecstasy" 805C center, and use them as L/R speakers. Because 1. They look like b&w speakers which you can't lie is **** sick. And 2. I just have this feeling that they will sound fairly good. Also two 5.25 speakes/ported w/ tweeter for cheap isn't a bad deal, even if i end up using them as bookshelf near my computer or something else.

sucks2beme

The monitors they describe in the article don't sound that good
in an average room. There lies the problem. A speaker has to
load up the room right. What works swell in room A won't work
so well in room B. Or it's better with sand or tubes. I've owned
JBL L100's , which statrted as studio monitors. Fun to listen to,
but not very true to life in a standard room.
We could go on and on about this, but what's the point?
One man's natural is another man's yuk. And the debate goes on.

SlowcarIX

c_corie wrote: »

What brand/model speaker has the most realistic "in the room with you" sound?

if you get a chance, hear them out

http://www.emeraldphysics.com/intro.htm

quite eerie - able to reproduce a soundstage so tangible, you can almost reach out and touch it.

mhardy6647

McLoki wrote: »

As can the ice pick pressed against your ears....

Tom Brennan likens the LaScalas to a Sawsall sonically.

In fairness, all of the rest of the Klipsch Heritage speakers (even the Heresy) are better balanced than the LaScala. The Cornwalls (e.g.) are capable of pretty "natural" presentation, but only with very good (and sympathetic) electronics and exceptionally well-recorded source material. I wouldn't put any of the Klipsch products in the "most natural sounding floorstanding speaker" category myself.

organ

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Tom Brennan likens the LaScalas to a Sawsall sonically.

In fairness, all of the rest of the Klipsch Heritage speakers (even the Heresy) are better balanced than the LaScala. The Cornwalls (e.g.) are capable of pretty "natural" presentation, but only with very good (and sympathetic) electronics and exceptionally well-recorded source material. I wouldn't put any of the Klipsch products in the "most natural sounding floorstanding speaker" category myself.

I actually much prefer my LS than my CW. I also have a pair of Cornwall with upgraded caps in the x-over and new woofs/tweets. The LS need a lot more room to breathe. If I have them 8ft away from my head, the sound spectrum, leans toward the bright and forward side. Very painful to listen to. At 11ft, the sound is perfectly balanced and more laid back. The low freq ext. of the Cornwall is amazing though.
I know some people don't like them but I mentioned it because they're the most natural speakers I"ve heard. I haven't heard as many as some people here, but I"ve yet to come across a pair of speakers I like more. Stereophile gave them a very favorable review.

mantis

Dynaudio C4's. The most musical and Natural sounding speaker I have ever heard at any price.
http://www.dynaudio.com/eng/systems/lines/confidence/confidence_c_4.php

mhardy6647

organ wrote: »

I actually much prefer my LS than my CW...
I know some people don't like them but I mentioned it because they're the most natural speakers I"ve heard. I haven't heard as many as some people here, but I"ve yet to come across a pair of speakers I like more. Stereophile gave them a very favorable review.

Does the Stereophile review in question refer to the current production LaScalas? They may well be better than the earlier incarnations. The Cornies are said to be, as well.
Do you have new, or earlier, LaScalas?

Aldous_Huxley

what are the best sounding speakers under 400 bucks. -LP

ND13

Aldous_Huxley wrote: »

what are the best sounding speakers under 400 bucks. -LP

Monitor 7As or a claen set od SDA 2Bs, just an opi.nion

george daniel

ND13 wrote: »

Monitor 7As or a claen set od SDA 2Bs, just an opi.nion

Yep,, throw in some tubes,, dial em' in and don't touch a thing,, just sit back and enjoy.

4406bbl

Aldous_Huxley wrote: »

what are the best sounding speakers under 400 bucks. -LP

CRS+ with rdos.

organ

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Does the Stereophile review in question refer to the current production LaScalas? They may well be better than the earlier incarnations. The Cornies are said to be, as well.
Do you have new, or earlier, LaScalas?

My LS are early 90's (too lazy to check date code on ser. #) in perfect shape. Drivers are K-55-M, tweeters are K-77-M. I've yet to open the box to check the woofer. X-over is AL-3. My cornwalls from 1982 use the K-55-V squaker, Crites CT-125 tweeters and Crites woofers designed to be direct replacements. I still prefer the K-77 tweeter over the Crites. The CW's have the B-2 x-over, stock caps replaced with Sonicaps and new internal wiring,

From what I see around the Klipsch forum, the new LSII is better than the LS. But most say, the improvement is in he bass. The new cabinet is more sturdy, they were able to increase sensitivity to 105db/w/m. Some say the tweeter is a little more detailed. So the LS and LSII are quite close sonically. There are also bad sounding LS's out there that use dated x-overs or have leaking caps.
From what I see, the CW3 are better than the original. People are really enjoying them. If I'm not mistaken, I think the new CW3 uses a tractrix mid-horn vs. exponential on the original and 2.

mhardy6647

The MR horn on the earlier Cornies has some pretty glaring (literally!) flaws. I lived with a pair of Cornies for a decade, but sold them as quickly as I could when a nice pair of Altec Valencias became available.

It sounds like you did the work on your LaScalas to make them contenders (and don't get me wrong, I am pro-horn).

I think that the earlier LaScala reputation rests on qualitatively very good but quantitatively lacking LF performance relative to the MR and HF horns/drivers. If the current version has improved LF, so much the better.

I wouldn't mind hearing a pair of the new Cornies sometime. I put Sonicaps in the XOs of my 1974-vintage Cornies for their new owner. They were definitely an improvement. The new owner's using the Cornwalls with a beautiful Fisher 800C procured from Mike Urban in CT, and he's quite happy with them. The Fisher tube receivers complement the characteristics of the vintage Klipsch speakers nicely.

FWIW, the best I personally heard my Cornwalls sound was with a beautiful Marantz 8B that I had refreshed for a local fellow.

The K-77 family (EV T-35) is not my favorite tweeter, but de gustibus non est disputandum, as they say. Haven't heard Crites' drivers.

ohskigod

George Grand wrote: »

Yeah, real life natural without the real life low-end.

NEXT!

so, chalking you up as a Quad efficianado would be an error is what your saying....LOL

ND13

There are numerous Advent and Acoustic Research sets that'll treat the ears, too.

gdb

c_corie wrote: »

I'm using a Yamaha 50W Stereo reciever, it seems to power them pretty well.

Sort of still on topic, i think for fun/christmas i might get 2 TAD "Aural Ecstasy" 805C center, and use them as L/R speakers. Because 1. They look like b&w speakers which you can't lie is **** sick. And 2. I just have this feeling that they will sound fairly good. Also two 5.25 speakes/ported w/ tweeter for cheap isn't a bad deal, even if i end up using them as bookshelf near my computer or something else.

No offense....but you'd like almost any speaker's sound a lot more if you upgraded to a higher powered unit. I don't think that the Yammie is up to the task of powering your Polks very well. (not much headroom) This is probably why the others sound better IMHopinion.:)

mantis

I also think the N801's are probably another one that will just take your breath away and sound as natural as natural gets.

Dan