What sounds best

[Baker_86]

Hello


Looking for input on what you guys like as far as sound on the new wave genre from the 80s (I listen to a lot of depech mode and pet shop boys) as far as what speakers give the best sound for that Era mainly having a lot of electronic sounds.


Currently I have a set of epi m180's that sound great for this genre but pet shop boys I'm lacking depth due to the 8 in drivers. They have good mids and highs but seem to be lacking the depth but not necessarily bass but do lack bass by nature.


Any thought or suggestion would be great.


My friend has suggested herrasys (Gen 1 naturally) jbl 4312b (which he has) cornwall (Gen 1 which he also has) and b&ws (I don't know a whole lot about these)


Thanks

 

[Rex81]

Lots of good choices out there. You're right, most of the time you need at least a 10" woofer to get impactful lows. I like pretty much any vintage Polks like Monitor 7 or 10, RTA 12, or the best is one of the SDAs if you have at least 200 wpc. Infinity from this era is also good. RS6000 or Reference Four, Reference Five, Reference Six. The JBLs I've heard have been fun but I prefer the Polks myself, and they'll be a lot cheaper on the used market. Vintage Polks and mid-level Infinities are severely undervalued in the used market in my opinion.

 

[Hanleyster]

May I suggest Boston A100, A150, etc?

Dare I say some cerwin vegas?

 

[twiiii]

You can't go wrong with a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls. If you place them away from corners and not to close to a back wall they are fairly flat to 35 HZ. Place them in a corner or up against a wall and you can, if you choose the optimum listening location, with a 100 watt amp they will buckle your knees and you will feel compressions on your chest. They are tight and fast when set up properly. The MK II version can have a little sizzle to it its nature. So you may want to sit slightly off axis. THe MK I should be pointed right at you. The MKIII will handle the most power has the best midrange driver and woofer. It also has a little sizzle. But if its to bright BOB Crites will make you a custom crossover to correct that issue. My favorite would be the original MKI with updated crossover and tweeter. 101 DB 1 watt, with 100 watts that close to 120 db. Thats strong. Can you imagine 400 watt peaks with the MKIII. That's insane.

 

[E-Stat]

I'm lacking depth due to the 8 in drivers.

If by "depth" you mean perceived depth of field in the soundstage, the diameter of the woofer has little to do with delivering it. That is largely determined by about everything else with the speaker: midrange/tweeter drivers, crossover, cabling and cabinet (at least for box speakers).

Indeed bass response does require moving lots of air. A single 8" woofer will be challenged to deliver good first octave response.

 

[kermit z]

Lot's of choices out there indeed. What are you going to drive them with? I have some BA A400's that handle that music wonderfully.....well, as do the JBL L100T's that I swap in when I am in the mood. But I have a Yamaha M70 power amp that does make these speakers work.

 

[E-Stat]

as do the JBL L100T's that I swap in when I am in the mood.

He complains about lacking depth, but these offer a fun house mirror of soundstaging and depth pushing the 5" midrange way out of its comfort zone with the 4.5 kHz crossover. Directivity of dynamic drivers is optimum when the piston diameter is no larger than the wavelength being reproduced. In this case, the driver is much larger than the 3 inch wavelength at the crossover point which severely clamps down on directivity at the top of its range - only to be immediately transitioned to a wider dispersion dome tweeter!

Fortunately, modern JBL designs don't suffer from this overt problem ever since Toole and Olive stepped in. Five inchers are good to about 2.5k tops.

 

[Farmhand]

I find that the sound engineering on albums between '83 and '86 is fairly different.

 

[xero-D-hero]

Dare I say some cerwin vegas?

Funny thing is,that was my first thought when I saw this thread last night,but a lot of folks just see CV as "party speakers" and nothing more,and thus they would likely dismiss them as a viable option for detailed listening.

The Boston A150's are somewhat comparable to many CV's.

As are some JBL's (their CF Series comes to mind).

But yeah,it would help to have more info to give better advice here,like what sorta system will be driving these speakers and what sorta room is all this going into.

I'd probably opt for something like a pair of JBL LX-55 and make sure I had ample power to push them with,but I'm also not against using an EQ if I feel I need to,and again some "signal purists" frown upon that approach as well,so that may (or may not) be an option as well,though all that falls into the relm of personal choice.

FWIW

Bret P.

 

[ethangsmith]

I play a lot of 80's New Wave type music and I run stacked EPI 150 speakers and they work quite well. I'm actually surprised what the little 8" woofers are capable of. I've often wondered though what a set of Cerwin Vega D5's would sound like........