Help me to upgrade my speakers

[venkatcr]

I agree with Denom. None of the speakers can give you deep bass, the kind you expect from a sub woofer. There are two issues here. The larger the driver, the deeper the bass. And, in many cases, such drivers need their own amplification - thus an sub.

Whether you go for a FS or a BS, drivers usually are limited to 5.5 inches in size. Deep bass would need upwards of 8 inches, preferably 10 inches.

Given you have restriction in space and placement, BS will be the best choice. Pick the ones with the largest driver, and one that has a good Linkwitz crossover. If you can get a three way BS, that will be excellent, though those are not made anymore.

As Denom has suggested, I would like you to listen to all the speakers in you list and pick the one you like most. Pick an album that has a lot of deep bass, preferably drums. Expand your brands a bit and look at unconventional brands such as Yamaha, JBL, PSB, Klipsch. Yamaha delivers good bass, BUT please listen extensively before deciding.

Cheers

 

[sdg]

@venkatcr
Thanks a lot.
Among the brands discussed, to my knowledge, epos elan 15 has 7 inch driver. I've to check the other brands too. If there is any information regarding bookshelf speaker having more than 7 inch driver, please share.
Regards.

 

[manoj.p]

You are worrying too much about "deep bass" and size of the drivers. What is it you really want?

• Tight bass?
• Clean, distortion free bass?
• Bass down to 10 Hz?
• Bass with flat curve at listening position?
• Consistent bass at multiple locations?
• Do you want to air to move? or just loud bass?

Try to prioritize what do you want by deep bass first. Otherwise you will still be unsatisfied by your next purchase.

As pointed by others, focusing on driver sizes will not give you an idea of the bass. There are multiple factors. I have a studio monitor which is a bookshelf, with 10" woofer. It is rated at 37 hz. But that's just the -3db point. There is certainly bass output below that, it's just lower sound pressure.

If you want the first two bullet points above, get a bookshelf. Bookshelf usually go upto 60Hz (-3db point) or so which is quite sufficient for music. There is hardly any notes in music going below 50. If you listen to some good BS, you will be surprised how good these are with clean, tight bass. FS will do a job, but you need to work positioning. Most FS will go upto 35 Hz.

Once you start focusing below 50 hz, room matters most compared to the drivers alone. The room modes will become predominant and then you need start worrying about placements, bass treatments etc in addition to speakers alone. Otherwise, there will be lots of peaks, dips and nulls. If your listening position ends up at being one of these, you will never have a satisfying listening experience. So, do think about that as well.

As for auditions - listening to speakers is very important and you should buy speakers based on that. Not on specs or driver sizes. Another point to remember, the speaker will sound totally different in your room compared to the showroom. So please be prepared for that. But at least you are starting off with a familiar experience rather than just the theory.

 

[corElement]

Well put Manoj.

I feel OP at this point needs to stop researching and start auditioning a lot more.

 

[sdg]

@manoj.p
Thanks a lot for putting in so much effort to help me out. My expression 'deep bass' has perhaps created confusion as to what do I really mean.

Listening to my present setup (ca 650 combo with ms aviano 2 spk) since last one year has made me realize that I would rather prefer a warm sounding speaker with a fabric tweeter. Aviano 2s are very transparent speakers and more so when connected to ca gears. I prefer listening at low volumes and would like to have the bass extension at lower volumes without loosing the detail. The volume knob remains between 8 & 9'o clock. At this level the lower frequencies like soft stroke on a bass guitar (which remains for a while before dying out) or the soft low frequency symphony/rhythm at the background of a song or a room filling sound is hardly audible (I have heard these sounds on FS Aviano 6). Now if the volume is raised, the muscle and punch of bass (like the deep thud that hits you on your chest) is not to my liking. In short, I hope, I mean your first two bullet points. Moreover, at raised volume the sound produces fatigue (the vocals are too forward, the upper frequencies of mid-range of say a female voice or say a saxophone is not soothing).
Hope this clarifies.

 

[manoj.p]

sdg,

from looking at your post and the first one, you need to tweak your system first and find out where the problem lies, rather than jumping to buying a new speaker altogether. Many people prefer transparent speakers, rather than speakers having a certain frequency curve.

Spread the speakers apart as suggested earlier. Then start off with bass/treble controls on the amp at zero. Start lowering the treble, increasing bass and see if that helps. If it doesn't, then you need to buy new speakers. But then, listen to speakers first because you don't want to get another which won't make you happy.

 

[sdg]

monoj.p
tried your suggestions. Spreading the speakers hardly makes any difference except widening the sound stage. Lowering the treble and increasing the bass changes the overall texture of the sound which is not to my liking. So, I need to change my speakers.

 

[manoj.p]

sdg,

Nice, since you identified the issue with the speakers, now do some auditions. A speaker looks different on spec's but sounds quite different. Happy hunting.

 

[haisaikat]

sdg,

Nice, since you identified the issue with the speakers, now do some auditions. A speaker looks different on spec's but sounds quite different. Happy hunting.

Hi sdg it seems that you cannot receive private messages so I am putting the answer to your pm over here.

My room is actually the living room 15 x 13 with an additional 5 feet wide passge on one side .

Sent from my Veedee E10 using Tapatalk 2

 

[alankar1977]

Go For bookshelf speakers for sure. Quads have a nice smooth sound which will suit your taste. Alternatively, you can look at Cadence Arita bookshelves. IMO Cadence bookshelves will give you the warmth and smoothness of Quad and a good bass extension too... I have head them, they sound superb.

 

[didge70]

The quad 12L is somewhat of a "textbook" speaker.
They are neutral and flat sounding with good transparency. Some people like myself prefer neutral/flat sound, while others find it boring and lifeless.
They are not very bass-heavy speakers so be warned if that's what you're looking for. Instead, you get more clean, balanced sound.
The woofer is kevlar and the tweeter is a soft dome, so it should be quite smooth to listen to, as against metal woofers or metal tweeters.
.

Hi,

I've heard the Quad 11L Classic and I really like them. Do you consider the Quad 12L Classic to be the better speaker of the two?
I'm hesitating about which one to buy as I prefer a bigger sound and somewaht bigger bookshelf but don't want to lose the coherence in sound of the Quad 11L Classic. I would appreciate your opinion.