Speaker recommendations requested

Nick Danger said:
You are flush with some good speakers, nelsress. I have a pair of AMT 1C's(adore' em) at the house and would love to audition a pair of the Ohms as well. I seem to gravitate towards omnidirectional and dipole speakers myself. More musical than the AMT's....WOW! High praise in my book, fo sho.

Are the Ohms picky about room placement? The ESS in my listening area like to be as far out in the room as I cam get them. End up sitting pretty close, but am rewarded with excellent soundstage, especially on a good recording- the speakers simply disappear.
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Hi again Nick, I revisited your above post and played with the ESS placement, moving them further away from the wall and tilting them back a little and finally, I heard SOUNDSTAGE!!! I was never totally sure what people meant when they said "it's like the speakers disappeared", I think I get it now. It was like the band was between the speakers and you could hear all the instruments in different places on stage. I'd read about this but apparently never got all the stars aligned, so to speak, to achieve it. Thanks for posting that and making me play around with the placement, now I want to hear that all the time. Do you get that affect only in the "sweet spot" in your listening room or is it a little broader than that?

On Albert Collins Deluxe Edition on CD I could hear Albert up front, often center stage but it seemed he moved at times. The drummer was pretty much center but in the back, sax player rear left and organ rear right. So cool! The only problem is, to achieve that I have to move the speakers out in the room about 2-1/2' to 3' from the wall which puts them out in the room so far you've got to be careful not to run into the one upon entering the room with the other one obstructing easy access to the equipment cabinet. They're only 5 to 6 feet apart which I would have thought was too close but apparently not, based on the above results? I wonder if I raise them up 4 to 6 inches off the floor on platforms of some sort it would

The Ohms don't seem to do that, at least I haven't gotten them to do it yet but perhaps due to their omnidirectional nature, that may not happen, I don't know. They still sound good but are now running a solid second in this comparison test.
 
nelsress said:
Hi again Nick, I revisited your above post and played with the ESS placement, moving them further away from the wall and tilting them back a little and finally, I heard SOUNDSTAGE!!! I was never totally sure what people meant when they said "it's like the speakers disappeared", I think I get it now. It was like the band was between the speakers and you could hear all the instruments in different places on stage. I'd read about this but apparently never got all the stars aligned, so to speak, to achieve it. Thanks for posting that and making me play around with the placement, now I want to hear that all the time. Do you get that affect only in the "sweet spot" in your listening room or is it a little broader than that?

On Albert Collins Deluxe Edition on CD I could hear Albert up front, often center stage but it seemed he moved at times. The drummer was pretty much center but in the back, sax player rear left and organ rear right. So cool! The only problem is, to achieve that I have to move the speakers out in the room about 2-1/2' to 3' from the wall which puts them out in the room so far you've got to be careful not to run into the one upon entering the room with the other one obstructing easy access to the equipment cabinet. They're only 5 to 6 feet apart which I would have thought was too close but apparently not, based on the above results? I wonder if I raise them up 4 to 6 inches off the floor on platforms of some sort it would

The Ohms don't seem to do that, at least I haven't gotten them to do it yet but perhaps due to their omnidirectional nature, that may not happen, I don't know. They still sound good but are now running a solid second in this comparison test.
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The sweet spot really exposes the best soundstage in my listening area but part of the reason why I like the ESS so much is that if you aren't in the captain's chair, it still sounds good. If you can keep them 2' or more away from walls, you are in business. Mine are about 4'(front of speaker) away from the back wall and 8' apart with just a touch of toe- in.

An option you may have is to mark the floor with some tape where they sound the best to you and then you could slide them back towards the wall when not in use. May not be ideal but may be an option to keep them from being ran into when not in use and to keep the better half happy.
 
Thanks Nick, I've been told I'm using the wrong term and that it is more correctly termed imaging. Whatever it's called, I like it but it doesn't happen on most recordings, unfortunately. So far I've found it happens more on well recorded, live performances. Is that your experience as well or will I start to discover some studio recordings that exhibit this phenomenon as well? Thanks again. I'm going to try the "foam wings" I read about over on AK and see if that tames the Great Heil just a tad. Have any of you other ESS AMT 1 owners experimented with these?
 
nelsress said:
Thanks Nick, I've been told I'm using the wrong term and that it is more correctly termed imaging. Whatever it's called, I like it but it doesn't happen on most recordings, unfortunately. So far I've found it happens more on well recorded, live performances. Is that your experience as well or will I start to discover some studio recordings that exhibit this phenomenon as well? Thanks again. I'm going to try the "foam wings" I read about over on AK and see if that tames the Great Heil just a tad. Have any of you other ESS AMT 1 owners experimented with these?
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Nelson I will tell you how the soundstage is on the new Alison Krauss 'New Favorite' SACD I just scored on Ebay (those are hard to come by at anything but ridiculous prices). The Rounder recordings are always excellent, some of the best I have ever heard. Hoping this one is as good as the other ones I have from AKUS.
 
Gepetto said:
Nelson I will tell you how the soundstage is on the new Alison Krauss 'New Favorite' SACD I just scored on Ebay (those are hard to come by at anything but ridiculous prices). The Rounder recordings are always excellent, some of the best I have ever heard. Hoping this one is as good as the other ones I have from AKUS.
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Looking forward to your review Joe, thanks. I'll have to keep my eye out for that one.
 
Polk Audio SDA SRS

I've got a line on a pair of Polk Audio SDA SRS speakers and I've heard that these are amazing speakers but they're also freakin' huge AND heavy. My room is only 15' x 15' so I'm afraid these speakers are way too big for it. For those of you who think the Polk SDA series are an excellent design, I was wondering which model would be best for my room. Placement is also an issue in that if these have to be any more than a foot (+or-) away from the wall, and if there can't be anything next to them, it's a problem. Thanks for any input.
 
Always been a fan of Polks. Gave up my Monitor 7's for the B&W's after 25yrs, should have kept them for a second system (it was the wife's mandate - if you bring the monsters in you have to get rid of the Polks). I've got the B&W's in a smaller room than you have. Great for the near listening experience. If the Polks are reasonable I say go for it. If they don't work for your room you shouldn't have any problem flipping them (but I don't think you will want to).
 
laatsch55 said:
I think Jer has some SDA's...
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Thanks Lee, hopefully he'll stop by with some input. Do you know which model SDA's he has? I went to HiFi Engine to see what the owners manual said about placement but they didn't have one for the SDA SRS model.

I brought the Infinity RSIII B's that I recently restored in from the shop this afternoon and hooked them up and they sound pretty darn good. I didn't find the right placement to hear the soundstage like I heard with the ESS's but the Infinities seem to be more balanced across the frequency range. After this brief audition I think I'd like to hear some models above the RSIII B's.
 
If you ever find some 4.5's under 5K...that's a bargain...
 
Here are some thoughts on the Polk SR-SRA speakers. Just FYI.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=243862

There are many other threads as well. I googled Polk SDA SRS and got lots of results.. There are tons of recommendations, and lots to read there from owners of these fine speakers. I have never heard them but they apparently are a good choice.

I really think the Klipsch Heritage speakers are the ones to get personally. I LOVE the La Scalas..
 
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I don't have any Klipschorns YET..I love Kevin's, but I don't have a pair of my own YET. So, thou shalt not covet another man's speakers.
 
ksrigg said:
I don't have any Klipschorns YET..I love Kevin's, but I don't have a pair of my own YET. So, thou shalt not covet another man's speakers.
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If interested I did see a pair of K-Horns on Chicago craigslist out of Rockford going for $2700. No picture but says they're black. Another one listed going for $3500 (been on a couple weeks).
 
I have a line on a local pair, but he has them on eBay and they are $1600.00 right now. Has Crites crossovers in them. Probably a good deal, but I'm having to pay my wife the money she wants for a Separation, so maybe I'll just buy the damn things for a Divorce present to my damn self. Probably go for about $2,000.00 I'd guess...

Thanks for the heads up though. I need to just jump on a pair...
 
Congrats, I'd love to own a pair of those, but I'd get evicted within a day :evil4:
 
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