Best Cheap Speakers

I should also add to Robert Harley's remarks that Revel speakers have been extensively reviewed in TAS including its latest budget model the F12 and more expensive F52. While the Revel line is to JBL what Lexus is to Toyota, they are both part of the Harman Intl and share tech and expertise. I'm not saying JBL's sound like Revel by any stretch but there are some strong family connections.

Neil Gader

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i am pleased that harley and willis acknowledge the progear ( like the aforementioned JBL LSR6332s ) . probably most of the stuff sold through online shops like audio-midi or sam ash or musician's friend would never match up with even entry level highend like B&W or Wilson or Magnaplaners , but recently (within the last four years ) it takes four or five grand just to dip your toes in the low end of the high end . unfortunately , the sony and denon level stuff at discount stores - although somewhat improved recently - is still basically crap with lights .
so that leaves well built progear to fill in the midfi black hole . i would like to read a review of , say , the musical fidelity A5 cd player ( or comparable player ) in good ol' stereo feeding the new antique sound labs flora dt preamp plus a pair of hurricanes driving the JBL LSR6332s or some high level " studio monitors " ( a curious term used by long haired dudes with thin stomachs who work in recording rooms ) . Most studio monitors are two way eight inch jobs driven by shrill sounding transistor electronics .
i have always marveled at how bad studios sound given the fact that it is where all the recordings are made . fortunately there are some remarkable improvements in some of the better made pro studio monitors ( aka " speakers " ) that may now qualify certain carefully chosen components for use in low end high end systems . willis says he doesn't come across many musician oriented speakers . maybe you guys have to go to musician oriented shows . i am sure there is simply too long of a list for you guys to cover in the expensive consumer audio market as it is . i apologize for the wisecrack about audio critics only reviewing manufacturers who advertise with them . the truth is ; anybody in the hifi business these days couldn't possibly be in it for the money !
frdg3

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I hear you loud and clear on the apparently high price of accessing even the "low end of the high end," but down deep I don't think it has to be that way.

I have a passion, and I think Barry Willis does too, for putting together together "giant-killer" high-end systems that don't cost an arm and a leg. In fact, an article on some of those systems will appear in an upcoming issue of TAS.

Going forward, Robert Harley and Wayne Garcia are encouraging members of the TAS team to watch for and then review affordable overachievers, and you should see the results of our collective efforts start to unfold over the next few issues.

My opinion: Genuinely good, genuinely affordable gear is out there, but you sometimes have to dig a bit to find it.

Best,

Chris Martens
Audio Editor, The Perfect Vision
Senior Writer, The Absolute Sound

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I concur with what BW has said about many studio monitors being bright, bleak and otherwise yucky. I think there are a couple reasons for this. One is familiarity. Recording engineers understand the limits and the colorations of their systems and "listen around" those artifacts. They make changes very cautiously. And products need to be bullet-proof, taking extreme abuse without going down, especially in pop/rock/hip hop circles. Few audiophile products are designed for this.

Also taking the time to get to know another unproven product means downtime,something few engineers can afford. And to some extent they are also appealing to the uninformed artist who may have a certain expectation of the brand of gear they should find in the studio. I would expect there are quite a few musicians out there who only know of JBL or Tannoy or B&W.

That said, there are some superb pro-sumer speakers out there. they may not provide some of the sonic criteria of certain audiophile speakers but they are often as much, or more accurate tonally and more dynamic.
There's plenty of good and bad on both sides of the fence.

Neil Gader
TAS

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I should also add that loudness probably runs a close second to sound quality. I was recording in a studio in Topanga Canyon back in the 1980s. They used big UREI monitors both of which had a series of lights near the drivers, red, yellow & green. These indicated whether the speaker was being over-driven. The engineer quickly had the speakers flickering between yellow and red (green must've been wishful thinking on my part). Needles were pinning, I was plugging my ears thinking the guy must've known what he was doing. As the hours progressed, I rarely even saw the yellow light. And now the engineer was leaning in over the mixing board trying to get ever closer to the monitors. It finally occured to me that this guy had suffered acute hearing loss and this was the only way he could mix!

The end result was a horrible mix which my co-writer and I had to redo elsewhere.

Neil Gader
TAS

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frdg3,

Let me tackle two issues in one post.

Source & Electronics: As an alternative to the package you propose, might I suggest the new Musical Fidelity kW250S? The kW250S is a multi-function component that, in one chassis, gives you:

--A CD player (based on the A5) with 24-bit/192 kHz upsampling
--An FM/DAB tuner
--A 24-bit/192 kHz upsampling DAC
--A vacuum-tube preamp taken from the kW 500 integrated
--An MM/MC phono stage, also taken from the kW 500 integrated
--A 250 Wpc solid-state amplifier based on the kW 500 design, but half as powerful

The price: $8k (not cheap, but a lot of gear for your money). Build-quality: If this follows the pattern of other kW pieces, it will be made like the proverbial brick outhouse.

Speakers: There are two I would suggest, though both blow past the $10k limit by a bit. Nevertheless, they are the Paradigm Reference Studio 100 v3s ($2300/pair) or the new Gallo Nucleus Reference 3.1 ($3000/pair).

Both of these are gutsy speakers that offer terrific performance per dollar. My personal favorite of the two would be the Gallo, though its unorthodox styling won't be acceptable to all listeners.

How good are the Gallos, really? True story: I told a manufacturer of expensive electronics that I would be using his amp with the original Gallo Reference 3s (of which the 3.1's are an improved version). The manufacturer's representative wasn't too happy about this, and came to my home to hear his amp with the Gallos.

After listening for a while, the rep shook his head and told me, "I listen to my equipment in expensive high-end systems all week long, and this is by far the cheapest system I've heard with my electronics this week. However, it also produces the best sound I've heard all week. That's really remarkable." I would agree.

His opinion: The rep felt that, judging by sound alone, the Gallos could pass for $5k-$10k/pair speakers. Not bad for $3K per pair, eh?

Note: For even more oomph, you could use Gallo's supplementary subwoofer amp with the speaker (which, by brute force, pushes its low frequency response all the way down to the low 20 Hz region). But personally, I liked them just fine without the subwoofer amp. Your mileage may vary.

Best,

Chris Martens
TAS, TPV

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I don't doubt that the JBL's sound good, but they are truly hideous looking. In a recording studio.. sure. In my living room? Mmmm.. I don't think so. I doubt that there isn't stiff competition from other manufacturers whose speakers actually look great too.

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Speaking of cheap speakers, today I went into Manhattan (from Brooklyn) to check out the Paradigm Studio 20 V.3's, per Barry's recommendation in the current issue. Paradigm's website said the two nearest dealers were a store called "Audio Video Center," both which are suspiciously located around Chinatown, not a place I associate with hi-fi anything.

I head up there, and it turns out to be a rather small place, with two very small listening rooms in the back, and staffed by a few Chinese men. The front room was dedicated, of course, to plasma/LCD screens and electronic gadgets. Ironically, they had a $900 Tara Labs AC cord in a glass case.

The room with the speakers was filled to capacity, and a lot of them weren't plugged in. There was a projector set up in the middle of it to add further confusion.

Anyway, long story short, I told the sales guy not to bother setting them up. The modus operandi here seems to be home theater, and there's too much crap laying around to really hear the speakers, and I'm not really interested in buying right now anyway. And god knows what these guys have for music.

Nonetheless, the demos were in the rosewood finish, very attractive and solid-looking when the grills are in place. Removed, the front appearance is a bit overwrought in my opinion; the shiny phase plug on the woofer is the main culprit. However, I could live with it. I look forward to actually hearing them.

I don't expect a Manhattan dealer to have a dedicated room for a $800 pair of speakers, but this place is not really suited for the hi-fi customer looking to audition stuff. I'm surprised that Paradigm lets places like this sell their stuff.

Does anyone know of any other Paradigm Reference dealers in the boroughs, ones that actually have real listening environments?

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First, those JBL's are uggggly, at least for home use. Second, I'm willing to bet that, because they're studio monitors with wide fronts, they are designed for near field listening only. This is very important, because in the home environment one thing the designer always has to take into consideration is the reflections and how they interact with the on-axis response.

BTW I own 5 Paradigms, Studio 60 v3 in the front, and 20's in the back. Not the last word in detail but I can listen all night and not get fatigued with forwardness and fake detail.

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robert_harley6 wrote:In the next issue of The Absolute Sound (Issue 164) we recommend six complete systems from $1500 to $6500. We also review two good-sounding stereo receivers (Rotel and Outlaw) at $999 and $699 respectively.

Interesting that the first post I read here is this one. Just after I purchased my first quality system I read this issue. As it turns out, I chose the Rotel RX-1052 over the Outlaw and NAD stereo offerings because of its video switching. As well, it's a standup box, driving one of the woofers of a 4Ohm Onix Reference 1 (BBC LS3/5a) to death with a 100hz sine wave. My admiration for it has only grown. Well worth the price, even if you guys did like the Outlaw more (as it occurred to me).

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