Speaker recommendations?

So I blew a speaker out on my OMD 15--I was showing off the system to a friend and bumped the volume up way too high, and it blew--won't be doing that again.

I could just replace that speaker, but I'm also considering upgrading, and was hoping to get some advice.

My budget is pretty flexible--up to around $6000.
My feeling is that I can get some great speakers for a lot less though.


I'll link to some room pictures at the end of the post.

Basically the theater room is a 16' x 18' x 7'8" area in half of my basement. I have some sound absorption up, but right now its at the front of the theater area (because the OMDs are omni-directional, and I've heard you shouldn't tread the primary reflection point for such speakers). I can of course move some of the absorption to other areas if I get regular speakers.

I have a Denon AVR-4311CI receiver, and two Rythmik Audio FP15HP subs.

Anyway, I'm wondering whether omni-directional speakers are really for me. I tend to stay in one spot, don't have very many listening positions (2 really, its a small area), and the right tower is moderately close to the wall, while the left is not (which is not ideal for omnis).

I tend to use the system 80% for music, 10% for video games, and 10% for movies/tv.

I'd want at least a 5.1 setup. I probably don't need 7.1 in such a small space--I have that now and I think its overkill. The only time I really notice it is with 7.1 video games, and I'm not sure I'd be missing much with 5.1.


So my question is: If I did want to upgrade, what would some good options be? I may end up just replacing the speaker I blew, but I may as well look around at upgrades since my wife already oked it.

Room pics:

One other thing I'm considering if I do stay with omnis is to upgrade to OMD 28s and the OMD C2, and just leave the OMD 5s in place (I have a feeling placing OMD Rs in that room would be difficult... and I could always grab them later if I really wanted to).

Anyone have opinions on the SQ of OMD 28s vs comparably priced direct radiating speakers?

I am unfortunately not very familiar with most of the brands out there, so I don't really know what to look at.

I listen to mostly rock and metal, but I venture into all sorts of genres. Not much classical/jazz.

So long as movies sound good, and video games sound pretty good, I'm ok. One thing is I want very clear dialogue in tv & movies. (I have this now.)

Basically what I'm looking for is if there are some direct radiating speakers out there which would work better for me than upgrading to OMD 28s, or than just sticking with the 15s, without going over my budget. If people have any recommendations I could go check them out and then decide what I want to do.

I'll look into definitive technology.

Anyone have any experience with Magnepan? I have a dealer nearby who I can check out next Saturday.
Looks like for around my budget, I could pick up a pair of 3.7s and a center. And could get 2 pairs of the wall mounting ones for surround if I wanted a 7.1 system. (I assume I wouldn't want to keep the OMD 5s with them)
My neighbor has been raving about electrostatic speakers for a while now...

I don't allow my pets into the basement, so that shouldn't be an issue. We do sometimes eat and drink on the sofa...

I'm not too worried about the bass--I assume the 2 rythmik subs would pick up any slack?
Except I see that the CC5 only goes down to 200 hz... the rythmik's aren't going to be good up to 200.

I was looking at some of the KEF speakers too.

At this point I think I'm going to go demo some stuff next weekend (Magnepan and maybe B&W, pioneer, etc, since the same dealer carries them), and then figure out what to do.

Hmm, I was reading on another thread that this Denon had pretty good power output at 4 ohms...
There was a link to this: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/receivers/denon-avr-4310ci/avr-4310ci-measurements-and-analysis
And the poster said that the 4311 uses the same power system.


I couldn't find an exact price on the 3B-SST within a few minutes of searching around, but looks like around $2500 or $3k? That would push me over my budget by a good bit. I could do it, but my wife may have some issues. The vincent looks cheaper from a quick search. But if I do go with 3.7s, I'll probably give the Denon a shot given the above article, and then if its insufficient, I'll move up.

I do only use 2 channel for music (though I kick in my subwoofers--I assume I'd want to do the same with the 3.7s).
My current speakers are about 4 feet from the wall. I assume I'd be able to place 3.7s at about the same distance. (They are about 7 feet from the listening position)

In another thread I read that sound absorption behind Maggies helps them sound better (in addition to moving them further from the back wall). I do have sound absorption up on the back wall (as can be seen in my photos in the OP).
Edited by Morik - 8/19/12 at 8:49am

cel4145: is there a reason I shouldn't consider 4 ohm speakers with this receiver? From the article I linked to, it looks like it should handle them just fine?

A few more questions about the Magnepan's:
- in terms of the center channel, it looks like I'd either have to shell out mega bucks for a CCR & CC stand (to get full range there without it sounding clunky since the CCR only goes down to 200), or same for CC5 + CC stand, or just bite the sub reproducing the center stuff up to 200hz... or get the mmgc, if it really does go down to 100hz well. (Or a CC3 if I can find one?)

- my current surrounds & rears (OMD 5s) have a 90db sensitivity, 6ohm impedance (but can take 4), and say they don't want more than 175W of power (presumably at 6ohms). Would it not be problematic to mix these with power-hungry Magnepans?


The Gallo CL3 and Vandersteen 3As look to be in very different price groups... I'll look at some reviews and consider the in home gallo trial.

So I went and listened to the Maggies yesterday (I got ansy and went into work early so I could leave early). They sound really, really good.

I didn't have any CDs with me though (I'm all digital at home), so I'm going back later this week with some CDs (burned from lossless sources), and they are going to have the 3.7s set up with a velodyne. (When I was there they were on a 2 channel pre-amp (I believe) & a a McIntosh tube amp with I believe 300W/channel)

Anyway, my goal is to see how loud they can go when some of the low end load is taken over by the sub (I think he said he'd be cutting them over at 80hz), and whether I still think the unique sound qualities are my cup of tea when presented with my variety of music.

And then this weekend I think I'm going to Best Buy to demo some of the other brands that have been recommended--looking at their websites and dealer finders, it seems Best Buy is the only area dealer that carries most of those brands.

I did check out Gallo on their website... their speakers seem quirky: Very low weight, no electronic crossover (I found a review that said the way their drivers & enclosures are designed compensates for this)...
But they seem well liked, so I guess if I want to know I really should take the time to order up a pair of CL-3 or CL-4s and try them out for myself. Unless I can find somewhere to demo them.

I gave the maggies a longer listen both in-store and at home (borrowed the floor models for a day).

They sound really good, but I found that they have volume limits that would mean I'd be constantly worried about damaging them. I sometimes (not often, but sometimes) want to sit around and listen at 90-95db at my listening position. WIth the maggies I could get it up to 88db at my listening position--more than that and the speakers started to have issues. I asked whether it was a power issue (I was driving them with my 4311), and was told that its really more of a limitation of the speaker, and that even with more power I wouldn't be able to drive them louder than that, certainly not 7db louder.

Now I'm looking at the Anthony Gallo reference 3.5, and also thinking about the Salk veracity HT3 or possibly the Soundscape 8. Anyone heard both the reference 3.5 and one of the Salks? If so, what would you say the differences are?

Well, so I don't really know how to choose between the 3 speakers I listed above. I can do the in-home demo of the 3.5s, though that is kind of a hassle, and I'd feel kind of bad demoing with no intention of buying through them. (It looks like the 3.5s can be had much cheaper through other channels)

With the soundscape 8, it seems like less amplification is suggested than with the ht3 or ref. 3.5. But its also a good bit more expensive.

I could easily fit something like the Emotiva xpa-3 into my budget, though I haven't really done a lot of research on amps, so I'm not sure why its so much cheaper than some other amps of that power level. (E.g., Bryston 4bsst is much more expensive than the Emotiva xpa-2, which has the same output... I understand that digging under the hood would reveal all sorts of differences, I just don't understand what the practical ramifications of those differences would be.)

That looks like it could power any of the above listed speakers reasonably well (and has more juice than the Soundscape 8s would need), and would also be able to power a matching center channel. Though again, not sure what I'd be sacrificing vs a more expensive amp--I'll have to go do some research.

I'm guessing I'd probably be plenty happy with any of the 3 speaker choices... the ref 3.5s would be cheapest (by how much depending on where I got them), and have the cheapest matching center as well... but I'm still indecisive. I'll give it some more thought.


As to the maggies & the power issue--the dealer brought over an external 150WPC amp (he said so I could see the difference in SQ at the same power level), and I didn't really notice a difference. Though we didn't level match it or anything.
He said the reason the maggies wouldn't be able to give more volume, even with a 1000W amp, is because the planar design doesn't allow much more excursion than they were giving already.
Also, my wife really didn't like the look of the maggies, though she said I can do whatever I want and she'd get over it. (Though if she hates the system, it means we'll be using the tv upstairs, with no sound system on there currently... so... )