Alternatives to B&W 705s for 5.1 system? - Page 2

Folks, if you're going to contribute, could you please be a trifle more constructive? Instead of just "Speaker X blows away Speaker Y", could you please detail the reasons that you think that Speaker X is superior (better low end, smoother high end, better cabinet, or whatever)?

It would help a lot, I think, to know what to listen for when I audition speakers.

Also, Dynaudios, B&Ws, Paradigms, Monitor Audios--in fact, pretty much every brand mentioned in this thread--has received multiple glowing reviews from several audio magazines, so I don't think that anyone can really say that any of them are "crap". It's just a matter of which one best suits the listener's personal acoustic and aesthetic preferences.

Fair enough, although I thought I mentioned that the first pair that I listened to were Klipsch floor standers with a really harsh treble sound that immediately turned me off. Also, I absolutely hate the copper-colored drivers on the Klipsch's.

The DM602s had a much nicer treble--smoother I guess is how I would describe it. Soundstaging seemed good, but I don't remember it being spectacular. The Sorrento cabinet is pretty sweet looking, but the vinyl is a bit of a let down.

The 705s had an even nicer treble than the DM602s. Also, they seemed to throw out a very large soundstage. I listen to a lot of progressive trance and other electronic music with a lot of effects and the big reverbs in certain tracks really sounded huge. Voices sounded very, well, real. Brendan Perry's "Eye of the Hunter" album has a lot of tracks which are mostly accoustic guitar and his voice. If I closed my eyes while listening to the 705s it literally sounded like Brendan was in the room with me--I can't say that I've experienced that with a loudspeaker before. My one complaint with the 705s, though, is that with more aggressive music (like KMFDM's "Attak" album) they got a bit nasty sounding--and not in a good way. I wonder if that might be a limitation of a being a 2-way speaker? KMFDM has a lot of midrange (guitars, etc) as well as a lot of bass--perhaps the single midrange/woofer just couldn't handle all of the activity? I may need to listen to the 703s/704s and see if they handle that kind of material any better.

I next listened to the Paradigm Studio 20s at a store down the street. Honestly, after spending an hour and a half listening to the 705s, the Studio 20s were kind of a let down. They seemed to lack a bit in every category compared to the 705s--which isn't too suprising since they cost half the price. They were probably a bit better than the DM602s, though. It didn't help that I get crappy service every time I go into this store--I really don't want to buy from them but they seem to be the only Paradign dealer in my area.

About a week later I went to another store to listen to the Monitor Audio Silver Series. The bookshelves were very nice and put out a good deal of bass for their size. I did think that they sounded a bit unpleasent in the treble (in comparison to the 705s--I thought that they were equal to or better than the DM602s in this reagard...it was a week between sessions, though). The RS6 towers were another story, though. Maybe it was due to being three-way speakers, but I thought that their treble was much more refined than the bookshelves. I don't think that they were quite as nice as the 705s in the treble, and their soundstaging wasn't as good, but they made up for it by handling KMFDM much better than the 705s--it sounded aggressive instead of irritating. Oh, and did I mention the cabinetry? It's far classier than the B&W 6-series. I may even like it more than the 7-series (those white drivers with the light wood put me in modernist heaven!). I was very impressed by these speakers.

Also at this store they had the Mirage Omnisat v2 floorstanders. I had never heard these, and I was curious, so I had the salesman hook them up. They sounded much more "constricted" than the RS6s--like too much music was trying to be funneled through too small a speaker. I will say, though, that the soundstage on the Omnisats is freaking amazing! I could walk around the room and the sound from the speakers changed very little--quite impressive. I could see why someone would want these for home theater use. Supposedly, the store I went to is going to get in Mirage's upscale line shortly. I may have to check those out--if they can combine the musicality of something like the RS6 with the omnipolar soundstage, they would be the perfect speaker (for me). I've heard that they're not cheap, though.

So, that's what I've learned so far. Sorry if I'm not very good about describing what I heard--I'm still trying to learn how to better talk about audio.