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Wife Wants Big Speakers that Rock - Suggestions?

gamalot said:
.......................
OK, I will DUCK now but you'll have a long way to go to prove me wrong.

Gary
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no need to duck....I think many would agree with you. Mach 1s and CVs are great for rocking a dorm room or frat house :D

A three or four-way with a cone mid is a must for continuous high SPL without blowing a mid or tweeter. Yamaha NS-1000 or AR-3a are at risk or blown mids with all-night full blast party volumes. AR-9s look better on paper with the cone lower mid, but TA has asked us to remove these from this list :yes: .

HPM 100s or JBL L100s. Or go larger.....JBL Olympus, JBL Hartsfield, Altec 19, Altec VOT, Klipschorn, any huge JBL studio monitor using a horn mid and 15 inch woofer. A friend has a pair of ALtec 604Gs in custom 10 cubic foot corner boxes that he'll sell you... they're 5 feet tall and weigh over 250 pounds each. Your ears give out before they do :D

You live in the country I hope?
 
Yep, I would love to make an offer to anyone with HPM 100s, Polks, CVs, L-100s, Stacked Advents, Mach 1s and the likes to bring them on over and sit them alongside the 19s.

You better bring them in an AM BU LANCE cause you will need it for the ride home. :yes:

Still Ducking!

Gary
 
Ditto what gamalot said!

L100's, HPM100's and the many other "want to be" clones barely classify as a floorstanding speaker, and certainly wouldn't fall under my definition of a BIG speaker.

Now all you L100 and HPM100 owners, please don't take that as a flame, it certainly is not, i cut my audio teeth on 4 L100's and a Marantz 4400, i know what they're all about, what they'll do, and what they won't. They'll shake the bejeeezusss out of a room, while the elders have a tea party in the next room.

Now that i've matured and graduated, i have learned that it's possible to have chest pounding, hair moving, pantleg shaking SPL's with all the fidelity of a recording studio monitor system. Of course i'm an altec fan thru and thru, not because of any printed specs, or any rave reviews by known audio critics, i'm my own best critic and i have to go by what my ears tell me.

I've seen lots of suggestions for many different size and combinations of speakers here but have seen very few address the size of the room the "big speakers" will be used in. If i've followed this thread correctly, i think they intend to use these in a basement, a setting where a "supermarket" box with 12 inch woofer and paper cone tweeter would be an excellent choice, if you just want some background fill music.

The main room of my basement is 24x48, i run 4 altec model 828 A7 voice of the theater cabinets loaded with JBL 2035 bass drivers, 2 511B horns with freshly rebuilt 802-8G drivers, and i fill in the bottom octave with a pair of dual 18 subs loaded with JBL 2241's. The system is active, i actually use a DSP now, The 511/802's are powered with a 250wpc mosfet amp and run from 1000hz up 2nd order. The 4 828 cabinets are powered with a 500wpc mosfet amp and are BW limited from 80hz to 1000hz 2nd order, and the subs are powered with a class AB amp at 1200wpc and very high damping factor, high damping factor is important for controlling the sub drivers. That might sound like a lot of overkill, especially from the output power standpoint. Fact is, it's the best way to ensure that you don't damage drivers or amplifiers as nothing ever has to work at or near it's limitations, overdriven amplifiers are the 1st and foremost cause of speaker failure. You will beg me to turn it down long before any of my amps approach the clipping point, if you don't my neighbors will.

I'm involved in live sound/sound reinforcement, and also build and maintain systems for a couple of local DJ's. Why did i choose 50 year old altecs for the middle and top end of my big home system? It is all about the sound. I have much in the way of pro gear at my disposal, the fact remains that the altecs overall, just sound better. It wasn't about economy, i built my own cabinets at a cost far above what i could have ebayed them for, it was the only way to avoid some of the shortfalls of the vintage cabinets.

As i stated earlier in this thread, for BIG speakers, cornwalls are a good start, particularly where the value/price is concerned. They're not my favorite as the high end tends to fall apart when driven hard, but in a large room like a basement, they are about the minimum to get the job done. and after you hear a pair of altec 19's or VOTT's next to them, the search for your next pair of big speakers will begin.

Now i'll duck too!
 
The only ducking you need to do Bowtie is from the beams falling in that house that is a shakin! :thmbsp:

Gary
 
Need we refer you back to post # 1.

My wife has requested that we get some vintage speakers capable of shaking things off of shelves for our downstairs sound system.
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my lovely wife requested that we get some house rockers.
Click to expand...

Just following up on what the real request was and hoping you take this moment of blissfull joys to make it happen.

When a gal wants to rock the house, give her what she needs.

Gary :D
 
I've eliminated the speakers from my list (see below) that are too good (and too expensive) to run with the "riff-raff." Since I do not live in the country, the monster Altecs are probably not a good choice. My finished basement room is about 25 feet by 45 feet with carpet. I plan to eschew the Mach series only because my brother-in-law has the Mach 1s and I want to have something else that I can argue is "better" when he comes over.

CV, as always, are controversial, but the D-9s remain on my list. I'm not sure why, but I'm attracted to the JBLs. Are JBL L36s any good? My list follows with "Tops" noted next to the speakers that appear to be the most popular based on this thread. At this point, I'd like to trim the list, especially the JBL section. I'm having fun with this discussion and I appreciate the advice and PMs.

JBL 4430
JBL 4435
JBL L300
JBL L150
JBL L220
JBL L7
JBL 4628b
JBL L112 Tops
JBL CF120
JBL CF150
JBL 4311b
JBL L100 Tops

ADS L-910s

CV AT-15
CV AT-12
CV D-9s Tops
CV DX-9
CV-3000 Tops
CV LS-12

HPM 100 Tops
HPM 900

Yamaha NS 1000s

Klipsch KG4

Polk Monitor 10
 
coman61 said:
If you can live without the vintage part my vote goes to the Tyler Acoustics PD-80s. I got a pair of these, and these suckers are BIG and LOUD. There was a guy in the Cleveland area selling a used pair for $2500.
http://www.tyleracoustics.com/pro_dynamics.html
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Holy Smokes coman61... those PD-80s look awesome !!! :yes:
I would be interested to know what your indepth review of them would be. Might be more appropiate to start another thread though... :dunno:
 
I never did see a $$ figure you are looking to stay below. From the TOPs on your list I think under $500 is a safe bet.
You can NIX the top five JBLs on your list in this lifetime.

You also apparently have no use for Altecs so we needn't go further here.

Given the basic fact that Great Plain Audio (GPA) is right here for us Altec fans and can repair or replace all the components at a very reasonable cost I have to maintain my dollars to donuts approach.

I will be shaking away!

Gary
 
You seem to be wishing to levitate towards vintage, otherwise, I'd say, if you want big honkin speakers, go with a pair of Wilson X-1 Grand Slams, or JM Labs Grand Utopia (just kidding!)

OF course these range in price from $70K-$80K a pair, and weigh over 500lbs apiece!

All kidding aside, speakers like the JBL L-100 HPM-100, JBL 4311-4312, CF-120, and even the CF150 are what I consider large bookshelf speakers, and are not really floor standers. A speaker I own, the L-65 Jubal was sort of a small Floor Stander IMO. Ideally, speaker placement will be with the mids, and HF drivers placed at ear level when you're in your listening position (Couch-Lazy Boy etc)

Speakers like the L-200 Studio Master,, L-300 Summit, any of the larger 4300, and 4400 series are what I call floorstanders. The market has gotten tight on lots of this equipment, and you'll "pay" dearly in most instances for what you get. One fact will be let's say hypothetically, you find yourself a pair of JBL 4331,4333,4343,4345 Speakers in superb condition.
Buy them, play them, keep them clean without incurring any damage to them, and I assure you, you'll never lose money on them down the road should you decide to sell them.

Other speakers to consider, which were not as high quality as JBL's offerings, but some were quite nice none the less, and can be gotten much cheaper, were some of Sansui's larger models, (SP's etc)Mark
 
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Gary - I looked at some Altec 14s on DC CL and was intrigued (but not enough to bite). If we had to narrow it down (and we do for practical reasons), the reference to dorm room rockers, rather than house rockers is where I'm at. If all the knick knacks in the basement shake, I can live with that.

By the way, I told my lovely wife last night that I was working on getting some rockin' speakers and she was still cool with it. Weird, huh?
 
Just keep in mind what ever you decide that some of what is on your list can be mighty tuff to repair and replace.
14s would do fine if your shelves are filled with figurines, not so good if you have Remington bronze's!

Also, the number here is 911 for the AM BU LANCE and since building the Altecs I no longer need it in my speed dial.

YMMV if you go with some of the others you mention and crank them too hard.
Lots of threads here on refoaming and racooning woogers so enjoy the ride and you are entitled to make your own mistakes.

You have some great advice in the above replies so choose wisely.

Gary
 
wife wants to rock the house

first off, what the hell kind of shelves do you people own that you would consider HPM 100's bookshelf?? do you live at the top of a beanstalk? with that said, i own a pair of cv dx-9's and a pair of hpm 100's. and on the same 80 wpc amp the hpms believe it or not ROMP the cerwins. i hate to say this especially since my handle is "the vegaman" (they were my my first speaker purchase). i still love them and they sound the best hooked up to my 25wpc curtis mathes hw 481 music tower. (anybody have one of these?? i doubt it). so if you want to rock the house and yes i said HOUSE then a pair of hpm 100's on anything over 100wpc should do it. and they will also ROMP jbl l100' and pretty much just about any other cerwin for that matter.


now im gonna duck too!!

vegaman
 
I've heard the DX-9's vegaman has....VERY LOUD. Save a bundle and grab a pair....that is if you can deny the awesome power of .....

STACKED HPM -100s!!!!! BOOYAHH!!
 
OK........... so ya wanna rock the house on the cheap?

Still want some decent fidelity?

Search the used "pro" market for a pair of peavey sp-2's, you can find them in decent shape for 200-300 bucks. Another great sounding alternative would be the EV (electrovoice) SH-1503, again can be had for about the same price as the peavey's, i prefer the peavey's low end, kinda a poor man's model 19 altec if you will, but the EV's have outstanding mid and hi frequency performance.

Either choice will pound out the party tunes all nite and still beg for more, horn diaphragms for the peavey's are 25 bucks a pop in the event too much alcohol is introduced to the system, the 15 inch woofers have a field replaceable basket assembly (85 bucks) that anyone can change out in a few minutes with nothing more than a phillips head screwdriver. I am not as familiar with the EV's beyond their sound/performance. Either will perform very admirably on 70 to 100 watts of amplifier.

If you're not happy with them, they will turnover easily for the same or more money than you can buy them for, and they will far outlast any vinyl covered particle board box your money can buy

Now i'll duck all the way into an army crawl
 
Something to consider is where everyone is coming from. If they are one or two brand guy. They're experiences can be limited. CVs sound better with a Pioneer opposed to a Marantz. Polks with SL-2000 tweeters sound great on a Marantz and a bit harsh with Pioneers.

I still think the Polk M10s are the best sounding out of the bunch, although I haven't tried out all the JBLs or the Yamaha. And if you want DNA altering loudness you can't beat the CV AT-15s. But they are bigger than those dorm sized refridgerators.

Maybe you could get some local AKers to let you try out some speakers.

Have fun!
 
onepixel said:
Maybe you could get some local AKers to let you try out some speakers.

Have fun!
Click to expand...

I think I've got the list narrowed down, courtesy of a local AKer with some HPM 100s and JBLs. I am giving away a pair of nice KLH 5s this weekend (another gigantic "bookshelf" speaker) to another local AKer, so I reckon that some audiokarma is coming back my way.

Ken
 
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