The only speakers I really like are the big ATC speakers because of the clarity of the midrange. Unfortunately I can't afford them . Although they are mostly used as monitors. I don't like monitoring speakers speakers even the the good ones, I have the small Genelecs on my desktop. I want a big live sound. If I want pin point accuracy in studio recordings I have very expensive headsets (I hardly ever use) Anyone feel the same? Advice?
big live event reproducing speakers
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Thorsten R.
Super Member
Listening distance? Room size? Damping of the room? Sort of music you want to listen to? Budget? Why no monitors?
To answer your question a lot of guesswork is needed.
To answer your question a lot of guesswork is needed.
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Having had no experience with ATC speakers, I had to look them up. They appear to be pretty expensive for what they are. My experience has been that it’s in your best interests to proceed slowly - identify your needs and build your system to meet them.
How big is your room? What is its shape, and where are the speakers positioned in relation to where you sit to listen? In my older years, the ability of my speakers to simply move air seems to have become important. Small drivers can only move so much air in a given system. What are you really looking to create? Answering these questions now can save you a lot of cash down the line.
How big is your room? What is its shape, and where are the speakers positioned in relation to where you sit to listen? In my older years, the ability of my speakers to simply move air seems to have become important. Small drivers can only move so much air in a given system. What are you really looking to create? Answering these questions now can save you a lot of cash down the line.
The room is 35 square meters. Listening position is a good triangle. Small drivers are useless. Horns is the only thing I have not tried. I am now using Yamaha NS 1000 tri amplified. Not bad, but not a big sound, bass light.
Try horns.
If you want that old concert sound midrange horns is the way to go imho.
If you want that old concert sound midrange horns is the way to go imho.
Years ago, a friend told me your goal was his goal. Live concert sound at home. He bought AR 9s. Paired it with a SAE 2600 and SAE 2100L
preamp. He told me he would invite his friends over and it was like a concert. Plenty of speaker and plenty of power. Good luck in your quest.
preamp. He told me he would invite his friends over and it was like a concert. Plenty of speaker and plenty of power. Good luck in your quest.
While I would generally not recommend PA speakers for home sound -- and my prior Mackie SRM450 PA speakers were ridiculously noisy and awful for 2-channel musice -- the JBL PRX612M Active PA/Monitors I replaced the Mackie's with sound quite amazing and refined for 2-channel music and will go LOUD. I would recommend checking out the JBL's to see if that fits your definition of getting "live event" sound.
Without question you'll need a subwoofer to reproduce live event sound -- they use subs in live events, and even high-end PA monitors don't go deep. My JBL's have very, very good bass output for PA monitor (the Mackie's had little bass), but they would still need a sub to do it right.
Without question you'll need a subwoofer to reproduce live event sound -- they use subs in live events, and even high-end PA monitors don't go deep. My JBL's have very, very good bass output for PA monitor (the Mackie's had little bass), but they would still need a sub to do it right.
whoaru99
Epic Member
Quite a few folks diss on "PA speakers" but decent ones and well set up sound much better than many will give credit.
I have some Yorkville CU15 to use for tops over the JBL 4719X subs. Those sound even better than the 4732A (tops in 2nd) picture, which themselves sound better than the Yamaha S215 in the first picture (no longer own those).
You have to choose the right ones though. The biggest potential issue with PA speakers is noise. Those Mackie SRM450 were really highly regarded PA when I bought them (that why I bought them new). They were pretty good for PA with a live band, but holy crap they were ridiculously noisy (buzzing sounds in the audio at anything less than high volume) -- you move cables around and it was only like a "tone control" for the buzzing noise -- and no bass and really sounded poor for 2-channel.
I took a large financial hit, buying a pair of Mackies new, selling them back a few months later to the store I bought them from (at something like the half the price), to buy the JBL's from them, but I was thrilled with the transaction when it was all said and done. It was a "calgon take me away" moment when the Mackies were gone -- I didn't care what it cost me to get them out of my life
. I only bought the JBL PA's for live band use, but we sometimes play 2-channel music through them and they sound amazing and are dead silent.I'd definitely test drive any PA speaker to make sure it's noise-free, but I agree they can sound great.
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RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
Are you looking to put together a PA system or do you just want home audio type speakers which sound particularly good for reproducing a live concert sound?
speakers which sound particularly good for reproducing a live concert sound in home hi fi.
Agree with two comments in here, add sub(s) and some good pro horns, but note, the efficiency of the horn/pro gear will out be louder than most home gear. there are some real gems out there as well as real dogshit. If its real cheap, its likely not a popular/in demand system/driver type. horns can be peaky and WILL show you if the recording is harsh/sibilant/grainy. always look up the build sheet specs and learn what drivers are in the box, and verify they are still in there!
RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
I've had a number of speakers hooked up to my system over the years and of those, I would say that the ones that had the best "live concert vibe" were the Klipsch RP 600 M mkII speakers and a pair of vintage ADS 570 ones. They both had a kind of exciting top end that sounded particularly good for live rock records. Of those two, I much preferred the ADS, which I might have held onto except for the fact that they were a bit too large for the spot where I really wanted to use them. The Klipsch speakers I liked less, even though they did sound pretty good for certain kinds of recordings. The treble on those, probably because of the horn type tweeters, had just a bit too much sizzle for my taste (they were ultimately fatiguing for me to listen to), though I hear that they're really best with tube amplification and I was using a vintage Marantz receiver to power them.
Hubba hubba.
A nice lively DIY project imho: TheLoudspeaker-5
(a somewhat larger 4-way can be found on his website too if that kind of thing floats your boat.)
A nice lively DIY project imho: TheLoudspeaker-5
(a somewhat larger 4-way can be found on his website too if that kind of thing floats your boat.)
How about this, just ran across a recent build on DIYaudio:
A 280 liter / 9.9cu ft. 3 way.
'Ingredients':
21" Dayton Audio PSS555-8 as woofer and a B&C DCX464-8 coaxial mid & high compression driver mounted in a Sabourin horn.
Should be pretty lively. This builder is equally mental & genius imho.
Source incl picture: System Pictures & Description
A 280 liter / 9.9cu ft. 3 way.
'Ingredients':
21" Dayton Audio PSS555-8 as woofer and a B&C DCX464-8 coaxial mid & high compression driver mounted in a Sabourin horn.
Should be pretty lively. This builder is equally mental & genius imho.
Source incl picture: System Pictures & Description