Speaker Auditions (Some Emotiva Conent)
Feb 24, 2018 13:58:31 GMT -5
thompson12 and annjones13 like this
Post by jdmusante on Feb 24, 2018 13:58:31 GMT -5
Haven't been much of a poster here in the past but signed up back in October of 2014 when I bought my first Emotiva gear (UMC-200 and XPA-5 Gen2). The upgrade bug has hit me again (happens every 4-5 years). I travel a bunch for work and hit three different HiFi shops in the Seattle area this week. Listened to a few sets of speakers. I thought I'd share as I have enjoyed reading everyone's opinions on a wide variety of subjects.
Legacy Expressions and Studio HD - I really wanted to hear some Legacy speakers. Luckily, there is a shop about 30 miles from my house that carries them. Next closest one is 800 miles away. I was originally looking at the Classic HD but this shop only carried these two. They also carried a bunch of Emotiva speakers and BasX products as well.
I listened to the Studio HDs first. They were hooked up to a BasX PT-100 and A300 amp. Legacy manufactures beautiful speakers. This is one of the things that drew me to them. The Studio HDs are a BIG bookshelf speaker. Kind of clunky looking. I was looking for floor standing speakers but figured I'd listen while I was there. The had a good soundstage and imaging but lacked bass as you would expect from a bookshelf. Left a bit to be desired in the midrange as well. I also felt they were a tad harsh though they may have just needed more of a break in period. The sales person there then told me they play these at their manufacturing plant for 200 hours before shipping. Overall, not for me.
Second came the Expressions. They are a small floor standing speaker. Beautiful veneer finish on them but not the best looking speaker in their line. They hooked these up to the same Emotiva gear as the Studios. Overall, I was blown away by these. Wasn't expecting the sound quality I heard. The imaging was great, huge soundstage for such a small speaker. Excellent midrange. The sound of their ribbon tweeter was fantastic. These speakers seemed a great match with the Emotiva gear, again proving the point of Emoviva that you don't have to spend a lot to get great performance. The Expression were $3k a pair. They are mostly made to order unless I wanted to buy them off the showroom floor. I didn't like the light oak finish they had available and I wanted to listen to some more speakers at different shops. Moving on...
BTW - If you are wondering why I didn't listen to the Emotiva speakers while I was here, its because I find them to be ugly as sin and wouldn't put them in my house. I'm sure there is a market for them, and that they sound good for their price, but the style and design is not for me.
Martin Logan Motion 60XT - I'd been very interested in the ribbon tweeter and read some good reviews on these. Called the shop and the owner was nice enough to stay open for me get to get over there after work. These, and the following 2 speakers, were hooked up to a Parasound integrated amp. I didn't get a look at the model. These speakers were not for me at all. It was almost as there was zero midrange to them. I could hear the top end and the bottom end but nothing tied them together. The shop owner told me that he knew people at Martin Logan pretty well and they called these speakers their 'party' speakers. I understand why. Not anything I'd want to do critical listening on. Forget sitting in front of these for hours, I was fatigued after 15 minutes.
Paradigm Prestige 85F - I've had Paradigms for years and had wanted to listen to these. They are a very contemporary looking speaker. The shop owner recommended these as opposed to the 85Fs. He said they were the sweet spot of the line. The 95Fs were too boomy in his opinion. He fired them up and we listened. These actually had a midrange as opposed to the Martin Logans. Still, I found something missing with them. I liked the Monitor 11s I've been living with the past 5 years better, surprisingly. Soundstage was OK, imaging was so-so. There was just something thin and sterile about them. Not my cup of tea. He had a great price on them though, way under MSRP. Same with the 95Fs.
Monitor Audio Silver 500 - I didn't come here to listen to these but the shop owner suggested it with what I had asked to listen to previously. Contemporary, black box design. ZERO wow factor in the look of them. Again, these speaks didn't do anything for me. They reminded me more of the Martin Logans than the Paradigms. Something missing to tie the highs, miss and lows together. I pretty much stopped listening critically after 5 minutes and a few different artists.
I didn't buy anything here, and I won't as for the money I want to spend, I want exactly what sounds awesome to my ears. The great thing about this shop was the conversation with the shop owner. We spent the next hour and a half talking about his business, stereo equipment, life, career, marriage, divorce, children, etc. Truly the highlight of my day and very unexpected. Can't say enough good things about this guy. Made my day.
Paradigm Signature S8 v1 - This was unexpected. There is a shop on my way home that's north of Seattle I stopped at yesterday. Found these in there and was intrigued to hear them. This was Paradigms flagship model from 10-15 years ago. They are a huge, beautiful speaker with a gorgeous cherry veneer and in incredible condition for their age. I asked the sales guy if I could listen and I was off to the races. He was nice enough to put me in a room all to myself, handed me a iPad with Tidal access, shut the door and let me have at it. The speakers were hooked up to a Niam integrated amp. I did not take note of the model number. I mostly listen to instrumental music so I played some of my faves - Jeff Beck, Bela Fleck, Herbie Hancock, Medeski Martin & Wood. The imaging and soundstage blew me away. Again, I wasn't expecting it. I was hearing things from Herbie Hancock's Headhunter's album I had never fully appreciated. The stereo mix was glorious. Time to listen to some vocal. I played Norah Jones 'Above Ground' and just about melted when I heard her voice start up. Just wow! Spent the next 15 mins closely examining the speaker with the idea that I wanted these. Spoke to the salesperson and he agreed to take a trade on my speakers for these. He's holding them for me through the end of the day today.
The last couple of days were about the most fun I've had shopping in forever. The conversations with the people in these places was incredible. Very knowledgeable and truly excited to talk about equipment. Get out there if you haven't done this lately. I ended up going down a path I didn't expect but I hope that the reviews of the other five speakers help someone here out.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and thanks for reading.
Jason
Legacy Expressions and Studio HD - I really wanted to hear some Legacy speakers. Luckily, there is a shop about 30 miles from my house that carries them. Next closest one is 800 miles away. I was originally looking at the Classic HD but this shop only carried these two. They also carried a bunch of Emotiva speakers and BasX products as well.
I listened to the Studio HDs first. They were hooked up to a BasX PT-100 and A300 amp. Legacy manufactures beautiful speakers. This is one of the things that drew me to them. The Studio HDs are a BIG bookshelf speaker. Kind of clunky looking. I was looking for floor standing speakers but figured I'd listen while I was there. The had a good soundstage and imaging but lacked bass as you would expect from a bookshelf. Left a bit to be desired in the midrange as well. I also felt they were a tad harsh though they may have just needed more of a break in period. The sales person there then told me they play these at their manufacturing plant for 200 hours before shipping. Overall, not for me.
Second came the Expressions. They are a small floor standing speaker. Beautiful veneer finish on them but not the best looking speaker in their line. They hooked these up to the same Emotiva gear as the Studios. Overall, I was blown away by these. Wasn't expecting the sound quality I heard. The imaging was great, huge soundstage for such a small speaker. Excellent midrange. The sound of their ribbon tweeter was fantastic. These speakers seemed a great match with the Emotiva gear, again proving the point of Emoviva that you don't have to spend a lot to get great performance. The Expression were $3k a pair. They are mostly made to order unless I wanted to buy them off the showroom floor. I didn't like the light oak finish they had available and I wanted to listen to some more speakers at different shops. Moving on...
BTW - If you are wondering why I didn't listen to the Emotiva speakers while I was here, its because I find them to be ugly as sin and wouldn't put them in my house. I'm sure there is a market for them, and that they sound good for their price, but the style and design is not for me.
Martin Logan Motion 60XT - I'd been very interested in the ribbon tweeter and read some good reviews on these. Called the shop and the owner was nice enough to stay open for me get to get over there after work. These, and the following 2 speakers, were hooked up to a Parasound integrated amp. I didn't get a look at the model. These speakers were not for me at all. It was almost as there was zero midrange to them. I could hear the top end and the bottom end but nothing tied them together. The shop owner told me that he knew people at Martin Logan pretty well and they called these speakers their 'party' speakers. I understand why. Not anything I'd want to do critical listening on. Forget sitting in front of these for hours, I was fatigued after 15 minutes.
Paradigm Prestige 85F - I've had Paradigms for years and had wanted to listen to these. They are a very contemporary looking speaker. The shop owner recommended these as opposed to the 85Fs. He said they were the sweet spot of the line. The 95Fs were too boomy in his opinion. He fired them up and we listened. These actually had a midrange as opposed to the Martin Logans. Still, I found something missing with them. I liked the Monitor 11s I've been living with the past 5 years better, surprisingly. Soundstage was OK, imaging was so-so. There was just something thin and sterile about them. Not my cup of tea. He had a great price on them though, way under MSRP. Same with the 95Fs.
Monitor Audio Silver 500 - I didn't come here to listen to these but the shop owner suggested it with what I had asked to listen to previously. Contemporary, black box design. ZERO wow factor in the look of them. Again, these speaks didn't do anything for me. They reminded me more of the Martin Logans than the Paradigms. Something missing to tie the highs, miss and lows together. I pretty much stopped listening critically after 5 minutes and a few different artists.
I didn't buy anything here, and I won't as for the money I want to spend, I want exactly what sounds awesome to my ears. The great thing about this shop was the conversation with the shop owner. We spent the next hour and a half talking about his business, stereo equipment, life, career, marriage, divorce, children, etc. Truly the highlight of my day and very unexpected. Can't say enough good things about this guy. Made my day.
Paradigm Signature S8 v1 - This was unexpected. There is a shop on my way home that's north of Seattle I stopped at yesterday. Found these in there and was intrigued to hear them. This was Paradigms flagship model from 10-15 years ago. They are a huge, beautiful speaker with a gorgeous cherry veneer and in incredible condition for their age. I asked the sales guy if I could listen and I was off to the races. He was nice enough to put me in a room all to myself, handed me a iPad with Tidal access, shut the door and let me have at it. The speakers were hooked up to a Niam integrated amp. I did not take note of the model number. I mostly listen to instrumental music so I played some of my faves - Jeff Beck, Bela Fleck, Herbie Hancock, Medeski Martin & Wood. The imaging and soundstage blew me away. Again, I wasn't expecting it. I was hearing things from Herbie Hancock's Headhunter's album I had never fully appreciated. The stereo mix was glorious. Time to listen to some vocal. I played Norah Jones 'Above Ground' and just about melted when I heard her voice start up. Just wow! Spent the next 15 mins closely examining the speaker with the idea that I wanted these. Spoke to the salesperson and he agreed to take a trade on my speakers for these. He's holding them for me through the end of the day today.
The last couple of days were about the most fun I've had shopping in forever. The conversations with the people in these places was incredible. Very knowledgeable and truly excited to talk about equipment. Get out there if you haven't done this lately. I ended up going down a path I didn't expect but I hope that the reviews of the other five speakers help someone here out.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and thanks for reading.
Jason
