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

261K 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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#172 ·
If we can make track suggestions, I've always loved Jennifer Warnes: Way Down Deep track. Beautiful vocals, great instrumentation and can really showcase a speakers low end prowess (or lack thereof).

Just my 2cents :)

Scott
 
#211 ·
If you have recommendations for good demo music... we have a dedicated thread for this. Please let us know your favorites:

Good Demo Music - Good Imaging Music - Your Favorite Demo Music


If we can make track suggestions, I've always loved Jennifer Warnes: Way Down Deep track. Beautiful vocals, great instrumentation and can really showcase a speakers low end prowess (or lack thereof).
Great song. I have The Hunter CD. Danny Richie with GR Research always plays a few of her songs in his room at the shows. Vienna Teng is another good one he plays.


Here is my recommendation for a classical test piece:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X33VYG/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk1

but preferably in a higher resolution format than this one!
I struggle having to listen to this... just not my flavor. For whatever reasons it just not do anything for me. I guess I don't get it. No offense. :huh:
 
#174 ·
Hello, Fellow 'Shacksters!

As someone with passionate roots in audio -- both mobile and home oriented (I still remember my yesteryears of blasting incredibly deep bass notes through my massive Kicker SS12 box in the rear of my 1991 Nissan 240SX :rubeyes: :rubeyes: :unbelievable:) -- but without, unfortunately, the necessary funds to put together a truly high-end, top-shelf system in multichannel or two-channel configuration, I truly enjoyed reading about this evaluation. Indeed, I truly wish I could afford loudspeakers of such formidable pedigree (being a contract freelance writer, even for multiple publications across a multitude of genres, is not a profession I'd recommend for anyone looking to survive or make any kind of money :sarcastic:) but I have instead learned to truly love more affordable, easier-to-attain gear. How I would love to sample these speakers in this roundup, though; I wonder if my Onkyo TX-8555 stereo receiver would be able to power a pair of any them comfortably...:rubeyes: :huh: :T

There is indeed something so magical about a good, solid two-channel system with formidable floorstanding tower loudspeakers and a stereo integrated amp or receiver driving them...all, of course, showing off their gorgeous black brushed-aluminum faceplates!

Keep up the good work, Sonnie and the rest of the HTS staff that puts these wonderful roundups together! :T
 
#175 ·
This is great! As I am a mastering engineer, I constantly deal with different styles of music, so I am picky about where and thru what I listen to my projects in order to put out the best product possible. I have three rooms, the mastering room, which has a 5.1 surround speaker system in a balanced audio room, the recording room that that is pretty flat, no echo what so ever, with a stereo set of studio speakers, and a 7.2 surround sound theater system with speakers mounted in the walls with special boxes, except for the 2 subwoofers, and of course I have a small boombox to use as well. this set up allows me to test our projects and get a mix that sounds good in all the different speakers. So I am pleased to be a member here as I find that the newbie as well as the pros can come and find out whats available in audio equipment and what the so many experts that frequent here have to say. It sounds like your test room, Cedar Creek Cinema (The 2 Car Garage), is set up really nice. I will be very interested in finding out the results of these tests as I always have people asking me what they should buy for their home theaters. Have fun, and I hope you listen to some great music.
 
#178 · (Edited)
I haven't been posting much these past few months as summertime is outdoor time for me but with the cooler air rolling in, I'll soon be picking up where I left off with my home theater build and the build thread I started earlier this year.

When I read about the shootout I thought it was a good opportunity to get my feet wet again. I mean, who doesn't love a good shootout and it comes at a great time for me because I have yet to purchase my HT speakers and some of the models being tested are of genuine interest to me.

It's impossible for me to audition such a fine selection of speakers locally these days. We used to have at least a dozen stereo shops who carried different equipment back in the 70's and 80's. I used to spend many Saturdays making the rounds to audition the latest and greatest equipment and speakers but those days are long gone. Today we have 2 local stereo shops not counting the one remaining chain store. Of those 2, one carries only 2 brands and the other only 3 or 4 and both offer very limited stock for auditioning. I actually ran a small stereo shop out of my home back in the 80's and was an authorized ESS dealer. Does anyone remember the ESS brand and infamous "Heil Air Motion Transformer"? Well, that's a story for another time so lets not clutter the shootout thread with "I remember ESS" posts. :D

While a shootout is not quite as much fun or beneficial as an in person audition, it serves a much needed purpose for those of us who have so little to choose from locally and I am looking forward to reading the results.

Thanks HTS, for putting this shootout together. :T
 
#179 ·
You have great sets of speakers for audition. I am most interested in the Maggies. Beautiful speakers.

It is so hard to decide on speakers I am glad you are putting this together. Even when I audition speakers I have a hard time with the different rooms the speakers are in. You guys have taken out as many of the variables as possible and we all thank you guys for giving us (I'm sure) great reviews
 
#181 ·
hi all. and good day. Well i am late to the party but this would be fun. IMO: reference material would be 1) on bluray: LED ZEPPLIN: The Song Remains the Same. 2) 2010 OPENING NIGHT CONCERT AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL.. with GUSTOV DUDAMEL & JUAN DIEGO FLOREZ. Even though there IS a universe of unbelievable artist out there, but these 2 pics i can say WILL leave you with a smile and feel good, jam and rock out music. But i think putting electrostatic or what ever tech they are against traditional cone, is a bit off. You should break in the panels then maybe or compare the 2 and the winner goes against the cone winner....but thats me. I would love to have this job; i wish i could understand math and engineer and build my own speaker .....winner......Paradigm....maybe :) but i guess over all the winner WILL put a smile on your face no matter what your playing through them.
 
#182 ·
Hmm, this is very interesting for me. I am once again getting an itch to upgrade my speakers. I have a weird mix of towers (mains & sides), surrounds and center, but they (especially the now very old towers and center) keep chugging along. I also have a pair of Epik Empires for subs, although one is offline (I need to find a suitable replacement amp). They do a yeoman's job for surround material, especially movies, but I think a really nice pair for 2-ch material is something I need to invest in.

So this will be monitored with great interest on my part.

shinksma
 
#183 ·
Thanks once again for providing this great forum with exciting insight into the various speakers that are being auditioned here. Great way for us to get details on the various speakers all in one place for easy read and research. Keep up the good work! :)
 
#185 ·
This looks like a great line up of speakers it will be really interesting to hear the results. The extra "surprises" are very tantalizing too! I can't even imagine what a $20,000 setup would sound like? I'm not sure my ears can resolve that well! Anyway, it looks great!
 
#186 ·
Great idea!
Love the idea of a quasi shoot out and the brands mentioned are some I've been curious to hear about. The only brand I've actually heard myself were the Martin Logans, and that was some time ago. My current L&R speakers were in that price range when I bought them 10 years ago(Linn 5140's), so I'm curious how much more you can get for your $$ these days.

Question. Have you considered having an independent person/party set up each speaker pair prior to the official audition? And is the WAF (Wife acceptance factor) going to be addressed? Its always a battle to get the household CEO to agree to speakers being too far out into the room for the sake of sound quality. :ponder:
 
#189 ·
Speaking of WAF, I showed the picture of the ML's to my wife from the web and she said they were stunning and wouldn't mind a pair in our living room, than I showed her the price and she didn't even flinch. I can't wait to see how they do in the shoot out. I have the best wife in the world!
 
#188 ·
Well, I didn't do so well in the first round, so let's see if I can make up for it here. There are some really nice speakers in this challenge which makes it hard to choose. I am a fan of Paradigm, and although I haven't heard the Studios, they are a staple of quality systems. I also have a lot of respect for Dynaudio, who I think make some incredible speakers. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and vote for the Emerald Physics CS2P. I just have a good feeling about them... A little unconventional, and they look great on paper. Can't wait to see the results, and what else comes up in this thread!
 
#190 ·
This looks like a great event! Speakers have always been the bane of my existence (not only as a lover of audio, but as a bass player and a recording engineer), so it's great to see events like this happen.

I'd love to check out speakers of this caliber for my home or home studio (I'm currently using ProAc Studio 100s driven by a McIntosh MC2105 in my studio and a pair of Avalon NPIIs driven by MC30s in my living room), but before I did, I would want to spend a bunch of time and effort in getting the acoustics of my rooms improved. I went through a lot of different speakers in my home studio before doing minimal treatment and it was shocking how much difference some bass traps and first reflection control made. About a month ago, Airshow Mastering here in Boulder presented Sam Berkow of SIA Acoustics for a seminar in room design and it was quite an eye, or should I say, ear opener, especially the shape of the room (I came up in the studio world when live end/dead end was the rage. I was a skeptic but it wasn't until now that I've heard the reasons why it didn't work out so well.). I've always enjoyed hearing music in David Glasser's room at Airshow and while I've always attributed a lot of it to his speakers (Dunlavy with Pass Lab amps (I think those are the amps he uses)), but now it's clear that the room/speaker synergy is where the magic really happens. It looks like the room for this test is great! Have fun, guys! I'm looking forward to the results.
 
#191 ·
It sounds like it will be an excellent event. I also wish it would be possible to attend, by not this time. I am still amazed at the continuing evolution going on in the speaker industry, not to push aside the lesser known designers including some very talented homebrew folks.
Audio electronics keeps improving, but mostly in the areas of interface and compatibility with other devices and remote and other wireless features.
But speakers are in a class of their own. The improvements you can really hear keep coming. It is more than just an art and design effort, it is truly a craft in a way I think that other audio components can not equal.
 
#193 ·
Looking forward to this! These are all great speakers in this evaluation.
Personally, I love the Maggie's but not sure they will be able to compete in the low frequencies. My money is on the Martin Logan's, but I think it's going to be very close.
-Great job guys. Have fun with the test!
 
#194 ·
I am interested in OB speakers currently. I look forward to your evaluation of the Emerald Physics CS2P in your audition series. If this were not such a busy time of year, I would try and drive up there to take a listen myself. There is a lot of thought currently about an OB midrange/tweeter run by a class A amp, and having a DSP/crossover system for a plate amp running the bass drivers. Better bass than can be had with the lower wattage amp, and elimination of "box" effects on the critical midrange/tweeter section.

However, the OB systems need more room to run in than I have in my man cave. These speakers are only 18 inches wide though, much better than 24-36 like many of them.

Please be sure to detail the room placement for these speakers when you comment on them.
 
#195 ·
My wife is real good about gear too.
A long time ago she lobbied to get rid of my old 70's era speakers with something small and pretty so I brought home a Bose Acoustimass system that cost about $1200 and hooked it up.
After just a few minutes of listening she said she didn't want to spend money and have worse sound and asked if it could be taken back.
I packed it up and returned it.
About three years ago the old speakers needed to be replaced and when I wanted a RF-83 system she didn't bat an eye.
I know many of my friends have to fight for every inch of TV and a real sound system is out of the question.
After I narrow gear down to two or three choices she wants her say on the final decision but at that point it's a can't lose for me.
 
#196 ·
Great wife indeed!
My wife is very similar. I've been hooked on audio/video for decades, and back before we got married I was in the market for new speakers in the 2000-2500 range (similar to this evaluation). She started coming with me during my listening tests and she caught the bug. She was amazed at the differences in sound and detail that came from different speakers. After about 18 months, I narrowed my choices down to 2 models (Snells and Amrita's) and she liked them both too. In the end, I bought the Snell's and SHE bought the Amrita's for her place! LOL
Now that we are married, she has helped me with all of my upgrades (she has a good ear!). When I upgraded from the Snell's to my current speakers (PBN Montana EPS's), she went with me to all my listening tests. Again, I narrowed it down to 2 speakers (B&W's were the others) and she liked the Montana's a little better, especially when we added a sub into the mix. I agreed and they came home with us.
Now we have our home theater headed up by the Montana's, but she has her own listening room with some of my old electronics running her Amrita Summit's (yep, she wouldn't part with them even after we got married!). She say's "the girls" need a getaway room for wine and music while the guys are watching TV in the main room.
Who am I to argue with that?:D
 
#198 ·
This event looks awesome. If there is one in Texas I will bring Philharmonic 2s and an assortment of amps. I am entering my DIY phase of audio...not sure if this will be the pinnacle of my journey or just make me realize why beautiful finishes cost more :)

For the event consider toe in, distance, and ensure all the connections are solid. I measured speakers with major toe in changes and it was different enough to be seen on calibrated graphs.

Have fun!
 
#199 ·
This sure sounds like a lot of fun, I wish I was in the area and had an invite!

Happy to see the Emerald Physics in the line up, haven't heard this version but did have an older pair which were great. It is a very nice line-up of speakers so it will be interesting to see how they all stack up.

I really want to hear about the $20K 2-channel system and the special guest with a unique 5.0 system.....talked about getting my interest.

You guys are really doing great work :yes:
 
#201 ·
Wow this sounds like a GREAT idea! I am new to all of the crazy parts and all that goes into these speaker setups. I appreciate good sound but don't know what it takes to get there. I've got a few thousand into my setup and thought it was a fortune until finding this forum and it making me feel like an idiot. I don't know what half of the charts and jargon means but it would be awesome to go check out a big event like this and get to see some real setups. Way cool and I'm jealous that I'm so far away!
 
#202 ·
Looks like a great line up of speakers and equipment (the Onkyo was my 2nd choice after the Marantz AV8801 I ended up with).

Really looking forward to how sensitive the speakers are to placement. I need very forgiving speakers for my system due to sidewall proximity.

Loved the $1000 challenge, so I see no reason why I won't like this one just as well.

Thanks for the great work guys! It should help some of us avoid doing this: :spend:
 
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