Big home speakers

[Cujet]

I have often built my own enclosures and sourced speakers from Parts Express or other electronics house.

However, I no longer have the time. I simply want to purchase some large, floor standing speakers that sound great. I can run a 4 ohm speaker with my Yamaha receiver.

I'm looking at the Polk RTi-A9 speakers. It has 3ea. 7 inch woofers, 2ea. 5 inch midranges and a dome tweeter.

I'd like something with more cone area, but that's not bad. I prefer the sound of large floor standing speakers.

 

[Unearthed]

There aren't too many in that price range that will stand up to those. I've been reading good things about this Aperion Audio company:

http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/NEW-Verus-Grand-Tower-Speaker,267,89,802.aspx

I didn't think much of these direct to consumer online companies until I purchased my SVS sub. I now think these companies are the way to go, providing you do the research needed. I have Klipsch KSF 10.5's that I will never replace as long as they work!

 

[Hallmark]

The Polk RTi-A9s are for serious audio folks and are receiving great reviews...the price is right. The same $$ will buy you a lot LESS from another vendor. Gopher it!

 

[JHZR2]

Ascend - check their stuff out, Ive been really happy.

 

[flacoman]

How about commissioning another hobbyist to build a design you like? I don't have the time anymore either , but might be a good thing for someone already doing one.

 

[FXjohn]

Polks are good. I like Infinity though. hard to find large speakers these days, crutchfield was where I got my last ones.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Cujet

I'd like something with more cone area,

If you have the money, take a look at Jamo R909.

Otherwise, the Polks are probably a great suggestion in this price range. FYI, you can find refurbished RTi12 for about $750/pair (slightly different cabinets, same specs).

 

[JavierG]

I bought my first pair of Polks in 1987. Loved them and still use daily a pair I bought in 2000. Tried Bose once but sold them after a year. But for serious music listening I always go back to my Vandersteen 2C's. Now those are world class as evidenced by the reviews.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

been a JBL fan for years. wish i held on to my L7's. still rocking 20 year old L100's though and i love them

 

[Quest]

I'm a minimalist kinda guy, meaning that whenever possible, I would go for full-range drivers.

When I demand for serious listening, I'd only go with 2-way and no more. Anything over 2 way are, IMHO, a joke (well,of course, unless you can afford to buy some seriously high-end, multiway active crossover types of deal then yeah, that may be the ticket).

With my "Buddhafied Loftin-White" 2A3 SE amp still in storage (kids too young to be alone with tube amps, esp. consider that I have over 450VDC "live" on the back of my amp at all times...not good watching kids get electrocuted and wifeys screaming...), I'm now resort to using a highly modified mid-fi Rotel RA810A, driving a pair of JB 4425 "baffoon budt" speakers. I also have a pair of KEF Q35.2 modified with excellent sound stage and rendition.

If I can find one pair in good condition, I'd go with older larger Advent speakers built in the early 70s (with that reversed fried-egg tweeter). That one sounds mighty fine to my ears.

Of course: then there's the west-coast sound vs the east-coast sound...

*smiles*

Q.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Hoosier_Daddy
been a JBL fan for years. wish i held on to my L7's. still rocking 20 year old L100's though and i love them

JBL was very good in the 70's and 80's, but their quality went down since. I had L100's in early 80's and loved them.

 

[berniedd]

I bought Wharfedale floor standing units.

 

[SteveSRT8]

DCM's are good and can sometimes be found cheaply. Their older tower models are quite good.

 

[lyle]

Polk's have been a part of my home system since 1981. Dollar-for-dollar, throughout their whole line, you'll not find any others that sound so "clean" and "smooth". Others claim better specs or superior engineering, but I've never been dissatisfied with the sound of any Polk home audio speakers. I'm still using a pair of Monitor 5's I bought new in 1984. Polk's just sound good.

 

[Quest]

IMHO older Polks (designed/built in the 80s, midpriced ones) are fairly decent. Newer, lower priced Polks are not worth time dime and same applies to JB.

I like Vendersteens but costs a bit too much. Same goes with Thiels.

Don't care about mega-commercial ones like Boze speekers.

Big fan of DynAudio small bookshelf speaks but tends to be a bit problematic in my case (using small powered SE amps with poor damping factor will cause all kinds of challenges).

Q.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted By: Quest


Of course: then there's the west-coast sound vs the east-coast sound...

Q.


I'm not at all familiar with West Coast vs. East "sound". What's the deal, or the perceived difference.

FYI, I don't like horn tweeters. I prefer silk domes, with a slightly softer, yet still crisp sound. Ti domes are sometimes OK too.

 

[Cujet]

This almost sounds like a great business op. Build a world class floor standing loudspeaker with dual or triple 10's.

I actually have most of what I need to build a large speaker set with dual 12's in each, just missing one tweet.

Too big a project for right now.

 

[Quest]

West-coast sound is mainly referring to JBL (classic/older,pre mid-80s sound),good presence, warm, good pace, excellent dynamics but can be peaky at times (depending on what type of JBs you are referring to, L100 has a peak around 6K in it's passive Xover). Altec Lansing was also considered west-coast sound.

East-coast sound referring to those boys from Massachusetts area, including Matt Polk from Johns Hopkins (Maryland), Henry Kloss, etc. Once again: East coast sounds are more even, but lack extremes. Bass maybe somewhat wooly but decent to mate with solid-state amps built in the 70s and 80s. Bozak, Jensen, Electrovoice, early Advents (late 60s and throughout 70s) and probably AR as well.

For accuracy, you won't go with either one of them (Bowers and Wilkins flagship 801 series are a norm in most elite studios); For human voicing, BBC-standards are the norm (such as LS3/5A, or similar).

Just my opinions. YMMV.

Q.

 

[sleddriver]

Large, floor-standers that sound great, eh? Hmmm. . . Vandersteen. B&W (Bowers & Wilkins). Dunlavy (no longer in business; shop for used). Dynaudio. PSB's.

 

[sleddriver]

Ah, the warm, bassy days of West Coast sound . . . . worked really well with music from that era.