Quote:
Originally Posted by Bombadil
Oh, I'm just kicking tires. I'm set in my primary system with my Von Schweikert towers. Must admit I've never been a big high efficiency / full-range speaker guy. My VS are 4-way with very complex crossovers, some 4th order, some 2nd order. I love 'em.
My favorite bookshelf speakers that I've heard have been Sonus Faber, Joseph Audio, and Harbeth. My current Focal Aria 906 are pretty good, not overwhelming good, although they were named by The Absolute Sound as one of their top picks for a bookshelf speaker.
I do have a small pair of Fostec speakers, using their FE126Ne full range driver. It's okay but I find it somewhat fatiguing.
I'm entertaining the idea of selling off some of my gear and then looking for a more efficient monitor for my 2nd system, maybe in the $2000-$3000 range and probably used. Definitely not a tower speaker, I'm already set there. Maybe something like this:
REFERENCE 3A - MM de Capo BE |
The Super 3's that I own are the original, wide baffle model I prefer with a dampened Fostex FE127e driver. This is a bit smoother than the FE126e, but it is still a bit shrill on top. The newest RS5 (OEM) driver is a drop-in retrofit that takes about 10 minutes to do. The difference between the two even before break in is not subtle. The new driver is noticeably more efficient, smoother yet more extended on top, and goes deeper down low.
For the price, the Super 3 is hard to beat and is a fantastic way to break into high efficiency/low power audio. Once you start going up the Omega line (and "going up" refers only to price) we start trading compromises and beginning to compete with multiway speakers. One aspect of Omega line is that one driver handles most of the musical spectrum with no passive crossover components. This is not unique to single-driver speakers. There have been a number of two way speakers that let the low frequency driver run full range with no crossover and bringing a tweeter in to fill in the top. Examples include:
- Reference 3A MM DeCapo and other iterations,
- Dynaco A25 (one of my favorites. Just a really good sounding speaker)
- Joe Roberts' interpretation of the Altec two-way using 414/802/32a components. He recommends letting the 414 run full range and bringing in the 802 at 6-8khz. The ALtec 414A/B/C has been referred to as the best midrange driver ever made. One that just happens to reproduce bass.