Best speakers for $5, 0000 or less

[Guest]

What would you consider to be the best speaker pair for less than $5000?

 

[Guest]

If price is virtually no object you must hear Dynaudio range -- Danish made, I think, so perhaps a little hard to find except at the more esoteric hifi stores which may also stock some high quality American products.

More commonly available are the UK-based brands Bowers & Wilkins, Spendor and KEF which I can strongly recommend through about 40 years using them.

 

[Emperus]

You've to hear them out yourself to make any logical buying judgement.. You can refer to www.whathifi.com for assistance.. The prices are in £ though.. As you would already be knowing, a high end speaker set would require a good amplifier also.. If you are inclined towards bookshelves, you'd require proper stands also.. The best way would be to carry your favourite music to your nearest retailer(s) and hear the speakers out..

 

[astrallite]

Depends on the kind of sound signature you like.

Danish sound: neutral on-axis, off-axis roll-off

Canadian sound: neutral on-axis, neutral off-axis

British sound: recessed mids, boosted upper bass and treble.

There is no best...some people like different design philosophies.

I am personally a fan of Canadian sound--neutral sound throughout the entire listening range, from on axis to 75 degrees off-axis. This means no matter where you stand in the room you will hear virtually the same output. One of the ways to extend this philosophy is the use of three drivers for mid-range and treble (a tweeter, midrange, and mid-bass driver) as a larger woofer crossed over to a tweeter will beam forward like a laser and have poorer off-axis performance. However, this design requires room treatments--acoustic panels--to limit the effect of sound reflections.

Danish sound--aka Dynaudio--is very smooth sounding as off-axis roll-off will automatically counter room reflections. On the other hand, it's not that great for wide-listening angles in a well-treated room (or simply a large, wide room), as performance off-axis will be less than ideal. But it gives you a good listening experience in a "generic" untreated (mid-sized to less listening width) room without sounding bright but remaining neutral.

British sound--if you like the sound signature (many people call this "hi fi" sound as many recordings in the 50s-70s were created by mixing engineers on speakers with this sound signature)--would be much more effective in large rooms as it would performance the worst in a small room due to compounding of reflected sound. Off-axis performance will vary depending on the model.

So it depends on sound signature, width of listening area, room sound acoustics. These are all things you have to consider.

 

[MEgamer]

interesting thread.

 

[MEgamer]

Depends on the kind of sound signature you like.

Danish sound: neutral on-axis, off-axis roll-off

Canadian sound: neutral on-axis, neutral off-axis

British sound: recessed mids, boosted upper bass and treble.

There is no best...some people like different design philosophies.

I am personally a fan of Canadian sound--neutral sound throughout the entire listening range, from on axis to 75 degrees off-axis. This means no matter where you stand in the room you will hear virtually the same output. However, this design requires room treatments--acoustic panels--to limit the effect of sound reflections.

Danish sound--aka Dynaudio--is very smooth sounding as off-axis roll-off will automatically counter room reflections. On the other hand, it's not that great for wide-listening angles in a well-treated room, as performance off-axis will be less than ideal. But it gives you a good listening experience in a "generic" untreated room without sounding bright but remaining neutral.

British sound--if you like the sound signature (many people call this "hi fi" sound as many recordings in the 50s-70s were created by mixing engineers on speakers with this sound signature)--would be much more effective in large rooms as it would performance the worst in a small room due to compounding of reflected sound. Off-axis performance will vary depending on the model.

british sound: bowers and wilkins are known for having the vocal range frequencies to be the most present then any other. mids are open and present, and slightly more forward.

 

[astrallite]

^

B&W 802 Diamond (their highest end tweeters).

B&W 805

I think you are thinking of some other type of sound signature ME gamer.

 

[MEgamer]

but to my experiences , may not reflect yours but, the way i perceived sound never really did reflect on the frequency range, only if i played a sweep then id know, but when playing just normal music, the voice of the song always so much more preminent, on my MS mezzo, also british,

i dont know where to get the frequency graph, but it be interesting to see one, as my MS sounds very mellow, but when playing a sweep(www.burninwave.com ) it sounded somewhat neutral, (again this maybe due to my ears.)

i also think the way sound if produced is hugely influeced on the DAC of the pre amp/receiver or Sound card

because my asus xonar DX-well all xonars, sound warm, but they dont really have much impact on the freqeuncy range,you could well say the difference is pretty much unnoticable, if u are comparing from a high-end to really 'super high'-end.

however, when we listen to music, or anything other then a sweep/(any tests) we can tell lot of differences in how some part of the frequncy is somewhat more present. dont you agree?

 

[astrallite]

No I don't believe making wild guesses about frequency response tells you more than a microphone will.

Also you appear to be making assumptions with no comparative gear. That's like me believing my Toyota Camry is "an extremely fast car" with no comparative gear.

As far as your sound card, I don't use one for a simple reason--PC's are driven by switch mode power supplies. Nobody uses switch mode for real audio purposes without advanced, aggressive filtering techniques. Any warmth you are perceiving is probably low-order harmonic distortion from the switching frequency of your PSU.

 

[MEgamer]

microphones are not flat, just like a speaker isnt.

anyway ur right, i guess i have no control/reference to compare it to.

Sound card: though it says in the spec, it has low distortion values?

 

[astrallite]

B&W is one of the worst offenders of technical specifications. That and their THD numbers that their marketing team bakes out.

 

[astrallite]

^ Answering your question before you edited your post.

Anybody who reads manufacturer technical specs without proof of measurements is delusional.

Some microphones are very, very close to neutral. You must be thinking of Radioshack meters. But they provide you a correction values for their mics to get accurate response. And high end room correction kits that come with top-end pre-pros have very good mics.

 

[MEgamer]

meh, i dont eve own a B & W lol

do stereophile, have graphs for KEF and MS??

 

[astrallite]

I'm not google.

 

[MEgamer]

you sure arent

 

[Emperus]

Choosing speakers is never going to work out the way most other components are chosen (by reading specs and/or benchmarks).. Sound is very subjective and every person has got his/her own perception about it.. Every genre music does not appeal to everyone.. So its always recommended to hear your stuff before purchasing.. If there are more than one set that appeals to you, then it may come down to aesthetics.. Also important is the right equipments to match.. Even room dimensions become a vital criteria..

 

[MEgamer]

yes, i agree with that one.

 

[buwish]

Best answer selected by buwish.