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The Official $2,500 Speaker Evaluation / Home Audition Event

260K views 1K replies 328 participants last post by  needspeed52 
#1 ·
This is...

The Official $2,500 Speaker Evaluation / Home Audition Event



Introduction

On November 1st and 2nd we will come together for another speaker evaluation in my home in Luverne, AL. Attending the event and participating in the evaluation and auditions, in addition to myself (Sonnie), is Wayne Myers (AudiocRaver), Joe Alexander (ALMFamily) and Leonard Caillouet (lcaillo), all members of the HTS staff. All of the speakers are here and being broke-in as recommended.

This is not a shootout, but instead it is an evaluation and home audition of six speakers. You might even consider this a combined review of six different speakers, although not by one individual, instead by three or four individuals in a very controlled and organized evaluation. This evaluation is not conducted to determine the best speaker, as there are too many variables from home to home for us to tell you which speakers are the best for you. Therefore, ranking them may encourage you to buy speakers that may not accurately suggest which speakers will be right for you. Your room size, acoustics, speaker location, amplifier type, amplifier power, other electronics, and your very own ears, will all play a significant part in how a speaker will sound to you. What we will do is carefully measure and listen to these speakers, then provide you with the objective and subjective results. This will be influenced by the equipment on hand and the dedicated home theater/listening room... which is fairly well treated acoustically, and is setup to allow flexible placement of the speakers. In this evaluation, we hope to be able to tell you what speaker locations sound best for this room, including close to the front wall and out into the room. Unfortunately, we cannot completely mimic your room, so there is no way we can guarantee you that the speakers will sound the same in your room. As always, we encourage you to evaluate speakers in your own home to be absolutely certain you get what is best suited for you. Hopefully this can be a guide that in some way will aid you in the differences we hear, but ultimately your ears are what is most important in determining what speakers are right for you.

This event will include speakers from two of our sponsors, SVSound and Underwood HiFi (Emerald Physics). There are four other speakers that were voted on in our $2,500 Speaker Evaluation Event - Nominated Speakers Voting Poll. Pricing for these speakers is for the pair. We do realize that these speakers may not necessarily cost exactly $2,500/pair. We get that number from the fact that the average of all 20 speakers that were nominated is right at $2,500. However, all of the speakers in this evaluation can be purchased for $2,500/pair or less (add $350 to the Emerald Physic speakers if you get the DSP). That may not always be the case in future rounds. Actually most of these are closer to the $2,000 range than $2,500. We are basically covering speakers that range from $2,000 to $3,000... capping the max MSRP at $3,000. I suspect in the next round we will be closer to the $3,000 range on most of those.


The Speakers


Associated Equipment
  • OPPO BDP-105 Universal Player - We will again be using the 105 as the source for the evaluation. There have been some questions about recorded CDR's being used because they are a copy of a copy (extracting from original disc to computer and then burning to a disc). Personally I cannot tell a difference one way or another from the original and a burned copy. As a matter of fact, I know of a double blind listening test where a gentleman was unable to tell the difference from an original CD and a burnt copy of a computer copy, although he insisted he could tell a difference beforehand. However, to eliminate any questions, we will use either dBpoweramp or Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to extract the tracks from the original CDs to a USB thumb drive and use it in the 105 for our evaluation music. We will use the XLR balanced outputs on the 105. Be sure to check out our review of the OPPO BDP-105 by Luther Ward. We appreciate OPPO being a sponsor here at HTS.


  • Anthem Integrated 225 Amp (i225) - At 225 WPC (8Ω) and 310 WPC (4Ω), this integrated amp from Anthem should provide plenty of power to drive any of the speakers we are evaluating. It boast a 105dB signal to noise ratio and is built with high quality, close-tolerance parts. The main power supply includes an advanced generation toroidal transformer, which contributes to its low-noise floor. The conservatively rated massive transformer is designed with high rail voltage, fed by two oversized low-ESL, low-ESR Nichicon filter capacitors that employ a total capacitance of 30,000 microfarads. The preamp audio circuits are fed by two precision voltage regulators, thanks to the ±15 V rails in the main power supply. The input and voltage amplifier stages are a differential design, although the output power stage has a fully symmetrical complementary Class AB design with three pairs of high-quality bipolar output devices per channel. The amps design significantly reduces distortion and ensure extreme linearity. This is one solid built amp that is no doubt one of the best in its class and price range. We will be using the XLR balanced inputs on the 225. We sincerely appreciate Anthem lending us this unit for use in the evaluation.



    Specifications

  • Onkyo PR-SC5509 - We will use the heavy duty 5509 as our preamp processor during our home theater speaker system review and our $20,000 speaker system review (see last part of this post for more info on those). It may also serve some duties as a preamp in the two-channel speaker evaluation. Of course the Onkyo does not really need any introduction. It is well known and owned by several members in our forum. It is a beast of a processor and very well regarded as one of the top preamp processors available. You can learn more about it by clicking on the link above or visiting our Onkyo PR-SC5508 - PR-SC5509 SSP / Integra DHC-80.2 - DHC-80.3 SSP thread. Be on the lookout for upcoming reviews on the Onkyo TX-NR929 9.2-Channel Network A/V Receiver and the TX-NR626 7.2-Channel Network A/V Receiver, as well as a couple of their soundbars. We appreciate Onkyo being a sponsor here at HTS.


  • RAM Electronics Custom Speaker Cables - "Ram-Flex Custom Series" 11 AWG Canare 4S11 speaker cable sleeved with ViaBlue braid and terminated with gold plated locking banana plugs. These are also good looking high quality speaker cables that will not break the bank. We all fell in love with these speaker cables... they performed flawlessly and in no way hindered or colored the sound. These locking banana plugs are awesome! I have already ordered several of these since our last event. We appreciate RAM being a sponsor here at HTS.


  • RAM Electronics Custom XLR Cables - RAM "Custom Series" XLR Balanced Cables includes the Mogami 2534 with Neglex Quad Cable and Neutrik Connectors wrapped with the ViaBlue braided sleeve... as well as CBI Ultimate ML with Belden Wire and Neutrik "X" Connectors. RAM will custom build just about any cable you can think of... just tell them what you want and they will fix you up. Their service is awesome, as is the quality of their cables. These are good looking, good quality cables that are very reasonably priced. RAM does not play around... you order up what you want and in a few days it is on your doorstep. Compare RAM to places like Blue Jeans Cable and you will see the savings, using the same quality wire and connectors.



The Listening Room

As with the previous event, we will use Cedar Creek Cinema, our dedicated home theater/listening room that is a converted two car garage. The interior dimensions are 19.5' wide x 23.5' deep x 8.5' high. There is a 6" high x 4' deep stage across the front of the room, and a 12" riser in the back that is used partially as a ported enclosure for the rear subs. The room is excellent for our purposes with ample acoustical treatment on side walls and ceiling, large corner bass traps in front from floor to ceiling, a centered Primary Listening Position (PLP), lots of space to work with, and well-controlled early reflections and ambiance.



As shown below, the RT60 reverb time for the room is very well-controlled, 0.2 seconds overall, and below 0.3 seconds clear down almost to 100 Hz. This is a nice level of control with enough ambient liveliness to aid soundstage and image development. There has also been some additional acoustic treatment from GIK Acoustics that has been added to the side walls and back wall since the last event.




After Hours Fun... with a Few Surprises!

As a bonus to our members and readers, we will also be reviewing a $20,000 two-channel system. This review will be published later in our Reviews forum, but we will introduce you to the company and the products during the event. This system is truly to die for... just plain awesome and worth every penny of its price.

But that's not all... we plan to enjoy a little late night fun at Cedar Creek Cinema, and this event is sure to spark some excitement with a special guest, who will also be providing a truly unique 5.0 home theater speaker system (costing well over $10,000) for us to review. This will be the first review of this product. Our plans will be to watch a movie each night of the evaluation, hopefully Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Then on Sunday evening and Monday, we plan to do more testing and evaluation for a complete review of this speaker system, which will also be posted later in our Reviews forum. I don't think you will want to miss this review. We will announce the manufacturer, the owner and the product a little closer to the event.

We believe you will truly appreciate these extra reviews we have in store for you. Personally, I think they are pretty significant... huge in fact!

I don't know about everyone else, but I am EXCITED!!!

BTW... :shhh: Remember... it's a secret! :whistling:


Results

As you can see below, we have reserved several posts for the results, which will be posted as soon as possible after the event. We will post some of the known information about the speakers between now and the event. You will want to subscribe to the thread. After the results are posted, we will post in the thread that the results are complete and the reserved posts have been updated.

The REW measurement .mdat files will be uploaded to each speaker thread and available for download.

...
 
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#29 ·
This Is A Great Idea Can Wait To See The Results of This. More Page/ People Should Do This. The First Home Theater I Got Is The Only Thing I Could Afford Its The Onkyo Hts7300 I Believe. .. One of The Home Theaters In A Box For $500..Wish I Had Enough Money To Start A Real Setup.. I'm Into Great Sound and Video and Love To WatWatch Blu rays With My Family But Its Not The Best Setup But It Works For Now....
 
#30 ·
Man, I only live a few hours from there in SE Georgia and would love to go. Right now doesn't look like I can make it but you never know. I have never been to any GTG or anything like it and have been waiting for one to get close enough. Maybe my plans will change.

Everyone have fun,
Moto
 
#32 ·
Sounds like a great event to attend. Looks like you have some impressive gear on test, also an impressive venue. Just shoot me a plane ticket, and I will come over from Australia and attend! I would be interested to see if changes in your room setup change the ratings of each product. This may highlight any directional performance differences between speakers, and how tolerant each is to setup changes. This may be useful for some users who don't always have the perfect room layout or treatment. It may also highlight the importance of room treatment, or rather the lack of it having a negative impact on what should be a very positive experience.
 
#34 ·
Kinda too bad all this "good stuff" mostly takes place on THAT side of the pond :)

I guess the closest i got to something like this, was on my first visit to a local friend, who has a pair of the big Maggies. With my "tin ears", i'll admit they were pretty detailed and "effortless", but pretty bass-shy :D

I wonder if/when i'll get the chance to put together anything close to a home-cinema type thing, and/or a home-studio... Ah well, hope dies last, eh? :rolleyes:
 
#35 ·
Looking forward to the final postings. I will add to what others have already commented, I think that it would only be fair to attempt/spend as much time as reasonable, in optimizing placement. This is what a typical home owner would do with a set of $2500 speakers (For that much $$ I would spend a few days tweaking the setup, but I know that is not possible in this scenario). They will all have varying sweet spots, toe in, perhaps even height needs.

Overall this is a very good mix of speaker types and characters. Like you mentioned, not a shootout. I would highly recommend that folks listen to as many speakers as possible before making a purchase, hopefully at least a few in your own room.

I think having a full post of the room measurements with a "control" set of speakers would be nice too so we can evaluate what the room itself sounds (or at least tests) like.

And maybe some comments on what subs/center/surround options are available or recommended to pair with the 2 channel setup?

And thanks for introducing me to the Emerald Physics line. Very interesting stuff...
 
#36 ·
I'm looking forward to this evaluation. I realize that the results from your room aren't directly transferable to everyone else's, but it can certainly give an indication of how different designs will perform in a given room. As a Paradigm owner, I'm hoping the Studio 60's do well. I have the impression that $2500 is the "sweet spot", when it comes to performance/price ratio.
 
#37 ·
I think that all of us need more comparative evulations of audio equipment. Far too often reviews are standalone with out any measurements or comparisons to other "equal" devices. When I selected my speaker system I did it based on sound auditions. I hope that the reviewers take measurements using say REW and post them.
 
#38 ·
Events like these are what makes related forums such great places. From such, you get clear and accurate opinions and data from true enthusiasts who love the hobby. I think the topics brought up in the original post deserve some attention as well as Sonny and the gang have really covered all the bases. For those considering a speaker purchase in the near future, I say refer to post one of this thread before you buy. I look fwd to the results.
 
#39 ·
We are presently in the market for a new sound system. Between older age, hearing aids and other factors the old speakers don't sound very good. I know part of it is the compression used by our sources, however the other part is that the speakers we have are exploited by these weaknesses. Sometimes on the right song the music will be fine but most of the time I hear the holes in the sound or the one area that booms. I trust this forum as it has helped me out once already save a big screen - and the last sound evaluation was well done. We look forward to reading the results of this year's tests - and undoubtably will use it to determine which set of speakers to buy. I think they will be the ARX 5 or Klipsch set but the test will tell. Thank you for doing these tests - we will just be back in California that week or we would attend. Take care and happy listening. - Steve
 
#40 ·
Im very interested in seeing the results if this thread. I have recently purchased my first set of 1000$+ speakers and am interested to see if the 2500$ area shows improvement. My interest will lie with the svs ultras. I have heard nothing hut praises for them. I am looking forward to following this thread :)
 
#41 ·
This is a great thing to do for the forum. I would never be able to compare a group of speakers like that. Hopefully I will be able to put together a higher quality setup than my 3.1 system in the near future.
 
#42 ·
I can't wait to hear the results of this shoot out as I fall right into this bracket. I recently sold my Salk Songtowers and center and moved to the SVS Ultras up front. This was a big improvement from me and I am glad i did it. This will be a great thread to follow.
 
#44 ·
Hi Steve, I'm curious about the 'big improvement" moving from Salk's to SVS Ultras as Salks have a very good reputation on speaker building. What part was a 'big' improvement (response, detail, imaging, etc.)? I really like the SVS Ultra looks and also SVS products, so not doubting you, just that Salks are made with some nice drivers/parts also with a good designer behind them.

I'm also very interested in this evaluation! I've heard some of the speakers on the list, but not a all (such as the SVS Ultras and the Emerald Physics). This should be interesting.
 
#68 ·
:wow:

HTShack is at it again and I personally wish to shout out a big :thankyou: to all of the HTShack members and sponsors involved, :yourock:

The lineup of speakers here is :eek:utstanding: and I can't wait to see/read yalls impressions! I learned a lot before/during/after the 1k speaker evaluation and I expect the same this time around as well.



:eek:fftopic2:
Spoiler
This is going to be a great read, can't wait for the $250 dollar shoutout :)
:rofl: , +1 JQueen
I have a feeling the Pioneers designed by Andrew Jones would be a top performer in that price range :eek:lddude:
 
#46 ·
That top picture with all the speakers looks awesome! What a great collection of products. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing all the measurements and reading your thoughts on each system. While I'd be happy to own any of these speakers, the ones that interest me the most are the SVS Ultra Towers and the Emerald Physics CS2Ps, and I'm hoping one of these two will come out on top. What are the details of the $20,000 stereo system?
 
#47 ·
Another great shoot-out to look forward to. I probably should have done a little forum digging before posting this, as the question I am about to pose may have already been answered, but it is early and i am already posting this response, so here it goes:

Have you done shoot-outs like these where a DIYer builds a set of speakers in the same price range that are then used in shootout and compared to the retail speakers? Or perhaps a restored vintage set that were either a) the same relative cost when new adjusted for inflation - or - b) similar in cost now if you take into account finding them, having them shipped if required and then the cost of rebuilding, re-foaming, etc? After a few years chasing the latest new speakers around, I have now collected and restored a decent size collection of vintage speakers. I am always surprised how in-expensive some of these units can be purchased for (25$ set of B&W's DM3000's at a garage sale anyone?) Or, sometimes they are even free when they only need new foam (I have a plethora of RS series Infinty's - they were all either cheap or free due to foam rot).

Just thought about this after seeing a few postings from members who say they don't have this kind of $$$ right now to spend on speakers. A few hours of time spent here on HTS helped me learn enough to put together some quite respectable sounding vintage systems on the cheap.

Anyway, I just thought about this due to one of my other hobbies that runs on money (vintage cars). You can spend 1k to 100k on a reconstruction, but some of the best hot-rodding comes from either re-purposing old parts in new ways or making some yourself.

On that note, I am looking forward to the shoot-out results...with the direction my HT addiction has taken the lately, I may own some of these units in 10 or 12 years ;)
 
#50 ·
Good luck with this project.

One thing about shootouts is that it looks like you’re asking each product to do the same thing, which implies “fairness” or a level playing field. Except that everyone has different taste. This might manifest as a preference for one type of material for the participants in this “shootout”, i.e. action movie, drama, fantasy, etc. This is going to be true of all reviewers, so don't take this personally.

If you subject all of the systems to “one” type of movie, you might miss out on qualities that will revealed by and appreciated by a different type of listener. You may well reveal to your readers what your preferences are, but that may not be the same profile of preferences as your readers.

If you can, I’d suggest that your evaluations be further focused on reporting that might read “On drama with a lot of dialogue, the X system, dialogue intelligibility was higher making for a more relaxed, intimate experience; while on action movies the dialogue intelligibility didn’t matter, but the speakers shortcomings on macro dynamic swings was more evident; and finally, with music videos . . . .

Doing this lets the reader know what products “sing” under what conditions. Each listener reads with their own “agenda” and grading performance more finely will provide a more useful report.

Despite my long windedness here, I think this will be a fun event to be at. Hope you all have fun.
 
#77 ·
Good luck with this project.

One thing about shootouts is that it looks like you’re asking each product to do the same thing, which implies “fairness” or a level playing field. Except that everyone has different taste.
Yes, in my limited experience, it is difficult to agree on material with which all listeners are sufficiently familiar
to identify reproduction differences, not least because folks will become so tired of that material that they
may not want to hear it again for quite a long time.

I think this will be a fun event to be at. Hope you all have fun.
It would be interesting for comparison to have participants, prior to the event,
document what results they anticipate.
 
#51 ·
A DIY versus Manuf. evaluation would be incredible and would most likely let those of us building DIY speakers if there truly is fruit to be had of our labor. Although I can't afford a pair of $2500 speakers, this will be an interesting read. I enjoy reading listening impressions over interpreting graphs.

I too think this should be a blind folded evaluation for the listeners so that it erases bias, preconceived notions and any other irregularities that could skew the comparisons. Dedicate someone to place and wire up the speakers. Blind fold the listeners before entering the room and in no way let them know which speakers they will be listening to (making sure they are blind folded before seeing which speakers AREN'T in the room!). After they've heard the test material, as soon as they leave the room they write down their impressions WITHOUT TALKING TO EACH OTHER. Only after they write down their opinions can they share their thoughts. I know this would require more time and strict "rules" but would offer up the most "accurate" way to evaluate the speakers without influences.

Looking forward to reading more!
 
#184 ·
:clap:Very interesting and exciting event. Although I am not in the market at present, I am looking forward to the results. I expect all brands should do well as they are truly great speakers, with each to offer something over the other.:unbelievable:May be I can use the results for my future setup!



Couldn't agree with this any more! May be in future comparisons, a DIY speaker entry be made also.:nerd: As DIY is supposedly substantial savings, cost range for the DIY could be about 30 -40% of the other speakers. To invite DIY, for this comparisons, you could ask all DIY makers to submit REW results and then choose one out of all - possibly by popular vote and REW results. (I do not have a DIY speaker build:bigsmile:).
 
#52 ·
I'd have to say after looking at and reading about the speakers in the test, and my own life experiance being somewhat of an audiophile for 40 years the Martin Logans would be what I'd prefer in my home. The speed at which the information comes thru and the details you just don't hear on a piston type speaker makes them as close to live as I've ever heard.:wave:
 
#54 ·
No reason to limit this concept to speakers. Could also do receivers at various price points (low, mid, top end) and TVs/displays. Although TV are a bit tougher because of the complication of calibration for best performance. I'm sure people would love to see a properly staged apples-to-apples competitive comparison of the major top end AV receivers. Denon, Pioneer Elite, Onkyo, Yamaha, Anthem, maybe Cambridge if avaialbe
 
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