What are the best 2 channel speakers for $3000?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by mr peepers

Those have to be some of the most horrendous looking speakers I've seen in a long time. I have little to no faith that teeny little 4.5" speaker could provide any convincing amount of quality.

I have been monitoring your posts in many different threads. You rarely have anything positive and worthwhile to say about anything. The vast majority of your posts are sarcastic, condescending, and have a negative tone. I am sure you remember when you ridiculed me with your unnecessary and tasteless sarcasm in another thread or your negative comments about Gremal and his setup. It makes me wonder that perhaps you just wait for the opportunity to attack other members or make negative comments about them or their posts to satisfy your ego. Personally, I am tired of all your sarcasm. If you can’t make any positive, constructive, or worthwhile comments, please don’t bother to post anything.

Your post above just demonstrated how misinformed you are about speakers and yet you have the audacity to make general and blanket comments about things that you do not comprehend.

Have you ever listened to those speakers? NO.
Do you know anything about full-range drivers? NO, your post proves that.
Do you know anything about Tekton Design? NO.
Do you know anything about Eric Alexander, the owner and designer of these speakers? NO.
Do know anything about Fostex full-range drivers used in these speakers? NO.
Do you know anything about the advantages of open baffle as opposed to box speakers? NO.
Have you ever bothered to read a high-end audio magazine or an audio journal? Your comments prove that the answer is NO.

Originally Posted by mr peepers

Don't go with some off-brand that nobody has ever heard of before just to be different. If you're looking to spend 3k on a pair of speakers, I'd want something that looks as good as it sounds. Not some oddly shaped, speaker from the crypt.

Don't look past some of the "obvious" choices in likes of martin logan, b&w, vienna acoustics and such.

First, the speakers I mentioned above cost $550 and $1,600, and not $3,000. Do you realize that not too many people had heard of Polk Audio in the late 1970's and early 1980's or Definitive Technology in early 1990's ? You call these speakers Off-Brand because you haven’t heard the name or because you are not familiar with the technology or most probably because they are not available at your local Best Buy. I am surprised you mentioned Vienna Acoustics. I seriously doubt that you have ever owned them or listened to them for an extended period. That also goes for Martin Logan and B&W.

My intention was to inform the OP about alternative technologies and availability of other options. It is not a bad idea for you to ask questions or do some research before criticizing something that you do not fully understand.

Since you are such an expert, do you know who makes these ugly speakers?

Well, they are the SCHÖNBERG speakers made by your beloved Vienna Acoustics.

It is time for some basic education.

Speaker Education 101

Fostex Full-Range Drivers:

Many of you do not know Fostex speakers. Fostex is a Japanese company and one of the largest speaker/driver manufacturers in the world. Most of their sales are for the OEM market. Although Fostex speakers are well known in Japan and Europe, they were never mass marketed in America. Fostex is one of the most well-known and well-respected makers of full-range drivers. Fostex speakers sound extremely natural and musical. They are by far the best speakers for two-channel music such as Jazz and Classical.

With a full-range driver, there are no separate woofer, midrange, tweeter and a crossover is not necessary. Without trying to blend different sizes and types of drivers together, there is a purity of sound that cannot be achieved in multi-driver systems. Also, all of the distortion and phase shifts produced in other speakers, when a crossover changes from one driver to another, are eliminated. Best of all, the music does not pass through the element of a crossover: inductors (coils), resistors, or capacitors. A crossover is a necessary evil in all other speaker systems. With full-range drivers, there is no crossover to deal with.

In most designs, only one full-range driver is used per cabinet. This gives perfect point-source imaging. When someone sings, sound does not come from their mouth, their chest, and their knees like it does in so-called “normal” or as you said it “obvious” speakers. In addition, there are no time alignment problems (one driver being farther from the listener than another). You will be surprised at the stereo imaging of a full-range driver.

You can find the names of other companies that make full-range drivers in this link.


User Comments:

Tonian Acoustics TL-D1, Wideband 8" Fostex driver augmented by ribbon supertweeter

These are by far the best speakers I have ever owned regardless of price. I just sold my Dynaudio special 25 speakers. The Dynaudio’s sound very uninteresting when you listed to these speakers for a whole week. These speakers are very open, detailed and fast. These are spectacular with classical and jazz music. They have very natural, life-like sound to them. I would highly suggest anyone looking for another speaker, or thinking about improving their electronics to get better sound, to audition these tonian labs speakers. You will be suprised how live they sound!

Tekton Uruz (second speaker in my earlier post)
I am the original owner and have had them for 6-7 months. Have about 500 hours on them. I went to a set amp about 2 years ago and since than have owned Klipsch Heresay & KG3.5, Omega Superhemp, Zu Druid, and Coincident Super Conquest. I had the Zu for about a year when I bought these Uruz. I like the Zu because they were good or very good with all the styles of music that I enjoy. Read some great words from Tekton owners and Eric (of Tekton) convinced me to give the Uruz a try. 30 days later I sold the Zu Druid, the Uruz are that good.

The Uruz excel with vocalists, jazz, acoustical, chamber, and SACD's. If you prefer this type of music or use sacd's you will love these speakers. (The best jazz & vocalist speakers I have ever owned) They are somewhat omnidirectional in nature (need to be 36" from the front wall).

Open Baffle:
Audiophiles and knowledgeable people have long understood that removing the loudspeaker enclosure (box) or at least minimizing its negative and color smearing effects was the path to finding the ultimate natural speaker. Open baffle combined with a point-source provide you with the most realistic musical presentation. They have effortless and wonderfully open and engaging vocals and mid-range and very sweet high frequency response. Tthe sound stage and imaging presentation is what many people dream about.

You can read this article on the Open Baffle and Dipole Speaker Design, but I don’t guarantee you will fully understand it.

Originally Posted by typ44q

I am going to have to disagree with you on the boring part, those top speakers have to be the most basic, boring and simple looking speaker I have ever seen.

When I said boring, I meant it as a joke. What I meant was they are speakers that everybody has heard or is familiar with as opposed to something new and different.

Originally Posted by typ44q

It’s a box with a board attached to it that's painted black. I honestly think I could build an enclosure that looks exactly like that and I have zero carpentry skills
Of course without hearing them I can not comment on how they sound but there is no way I would ever buy those without listening to them for a good long time.

If you don’t understand or are not familiar with something, it doesn’t hurt to ask before you make such erroneous and misinformed comments. As I explained before, the first speaker in the above picture uses the open baffle design. They have major advantages over a traditional box speaker. One of the nicest things about open baffle is that they are so simple and easy to make that even you, with your limited carpentry skills, can make them. These are Jamo’s Reference R909 Open Baffle speakers. They cost $12,000.

Take a look at some of these DIY open baffle designs using Fostex full-range drivers.


Open Baffle Design Using a Fostex FE-108 Sigma Full Range Driver and an Eminence Alpha 15A Woofer

Fostex FE-87E Full Range Driver and Eminence Alpha 15A Woofer on an OB

Double Back Loaded Horn using the Fostex FE-126E Full Range Driver

ML TL using the Fostex FE-207E Full Range Driver

ML TQWT using the Fostex FE-164 Full Range Driver

There are a lot more pictures in the following link:

http://www.quarter-wave.com/Gallery/Gallery.html