Need suggestion for speakers better than KEF R series

[spaace]

Hi,

Hello everyone - Thanks for all the nice posts and the wonderful info you have going here. After a lot of drooling I took my plunge and need your help to complete my 1st audio setup.

I have an ancient Yamaha A 2070 amp, (outputting 80W pch) which caught my imagination, after I saw a few posts here, during my receiver/amp research on the forum. Given the sky high description at the low tag, it got my attention. Long story short - I have it in my apartment in Bangalore now. From the 2 auditions I hauled this around, I could tell that it gives better amplification than 1xxx series Aventage recievers (at 50% volumes) and the sound signature seemed somewhat same(Was not able to switch back & forth). It seemed to add(or bring out?) a little extra bass compared to Denons at ProFX.

I have listened to KEF R 500 (with my amp) and liked it. The sound stage and tight bass is what I liked best about R500. I hate bright / very open sound signatures (encountered when trying lower budget speakers across few brands). I found the imaging sort of loose & the sound bordering on bright, & I never dare turning up the volume.

I would love to hear from the experts, which other speakers can be had with the same money (1.5 approx) budget. Is there any chance I would encounter something much better than KEF R series at the same or a bit stretched budget? Something sweeter, but just as tight and with good separation, (I assume I meant sound stage here - sorry - newbie ) the kind you can enjoy even if the volume should go up?

In particular dealer recommendations in Bangalore with a good no of the suggested speaker brands which i can audition and compare together, while switching live between them , would be much appreciated. (Its hard to compare the auditions when they are weeks apart. How do you guys do it?)

My use would be 95%music and 5% movies (not compulsory) at not so high volumes.(Apartment living + tough wife) I intend to have only 2 speakers ever

Thanks in advance for your kind help & suggestions.

Rgds
Arun

ps : The candidate (bed)rooms are 9x9ft, another at 13.5x11.5ft & a hall measuring 25x10 with attached separate open kitchen, all with vitrified tiled floors.

ps : Type of music - old hindi classics, 80's hindi songs, blues, pop hits, selected karnatic & the occasional enter sandman / rammstien.

 

[raghupb]

Arun,

Given your candidate listening spaces, towers may pose challenges. Typically FS require more space around them to sound good. Stand mounts are more forgiving.
KEF R series is a fine range of speakers, if given space and decent amplification. Having R300 at home I would say they are a bit forward and at times "in your face".
Recently I had the opportunity to pair them with an Emotiva amp and they did not sound good at all. Very fatiguing to listen to.
They pair up well with Marantz amps and the monoblocks from Outlaw Audio; this I can say with conviction since they are in my living room.

Auditioning weeks/months apart is a very tricky thing. You will need tracks which are very familiar; and then you hear for sounds out of place.
If you are game, PM me and come home with your amp. Your description of the hall is very similar to what I have in my listening space.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[milestoneseeker]

If you found R500 bordering on brightness then you may find R300 a bit more mellow. But the preciseness of bass is better in R500. Have you tried Jamo? C103 will give you the heft and will be much more mellow. It is actually not in the range of R series and is cheaper (slightly). However, the point of right matching with amp is there but the benefit you have is you already have the amp to take along

Try ProAc standmounts (Studio 118s)? They are friggin' expensive in India for the respective models. I hope the 118s are below 1.5L (the 115s were).

 

[spaace]

@raghupb - thanks - i would surely would love to do some A/B testing if possible with different amps. I will PM you.

@milestoneseeker - thanks for the Jamo suggestion. I will add it to my planned list of auditions - (B&W, Usher, ProAc, Jamo).

 

[spaace]

ps "I found the imaging sort of loose & the sound bordering on bright, & I never dare turning up the volume."

I did not mean this about KEF 500 but about 2 other speakers i tried at a lower budget.

 

[rawat97]

Hi

You can also consider Jamo C97 FS if your space permit ,it will cost you around 1.1L ..With 2 woofers it will give you tight bass as well and goes down i think till 32 HZ with +/- 3 DB tolerance so you can live without subwoofer as well..Jamo are basically warm sounding but with new concerts they tweak the tweeter level a bit which actually i find good...

 

[Aanuj]

Look for the Paradigm Monitor 11 pretty balanced without forwardness. I find Jamos pretty open sounding a little forward in nature they become too loud to bare after a point imo. Another great speaker in that range would be Tannoy XT8/6F and Dali Opticons are great too.

 

[rawat97]

Look for the Paradigm Monitor 11 pretty balanced without forwardness. I find Jamos pretty open sounding a little forward in nature they become too loud to bare after a point imo. Another great speaker in that range would be Tannoy XT8/6F and Dali Opticons are great too.

Hi..you mean bright when you say loud or high DB...sorry bit confused..jamos concerts are not at all bright ...your amp should be matched with the jamos otherwise with distortion they can sound bad and this is with every speaker....i have listened jamos with denon and onkyo for. Hours and i felt these warm...meanwhile between jamo c103 and c97 i would suggest c97 as you are planning to use without subwoofer with larger internal volume and 2 bass drivers you will get more deep bass than c103 32hz vs 45hz,highs are more or less same for both but midrange are more neutral in c103 ....meanwhile you will not regret if you go with dali opticon and tannoy XT.generally speaker with metal dome tweeter may sound bright and fatiguing after long listening session to some but some might like it...anyway best is to take audition of every speaker shortlisted with your own mix of fav song and you can get your best speakers... For jamos and klipsch try cinebals they have vast range in their showroom and you can get audition for longer duration with your own mix..

 

[pawan_pullarwar]

I am newbie here, recently bought Polk TSX 440, TSx 150 and FXI A4. But before buying, I have visited few showroom. Heard Klipsch and Focal high end speakers, which were out of my budget. Among Polk, Klipsch and Focal, I liked Focal a lot, if budget have permitted I definitely had bought Focal.

Consider Focal in your list.

 

[saikatbiswas82]

Focal Chorus series could be exiting. Another interesting choice might be Usher Dancer Mini-Two Diamond.

 

[noblejose]

Hi Arun,

I'm also considering KEF R300 / R500.
Do you know any dealer in Bangalore other than ProFX?

Raghu, we've discussed this some time back, may plan for a visit to your place some time soon.

Thanks!
Noble

 

[spaace]

No I haven't tried to find another dealer for kef as yet ....

Rgds
Arun

 

[mpw]

U are in bangalore..do look up Acoustic Portrait.

There is a thread on that by FM Aurobindosaha and FM Nikhil

 

[spaace]

Oh I will be auditioning them ... In fact I did go down with my amp ...But had to stop and return due to an unfortunate emergency ...

However I have had folks pm me to tell me that ap sounds well only with their own sources and amps ... That's a concern but I do want to go with Indian make if I can

It would have been lovely if there would have been a setup to a/b test all of these products atleast for the science of it

Rgds
Arun

 

[mpw]

All brands have synergy with their own stable mates and this will be very natural.

Examples are Naim / Linn / Rethm and the like..

The advantage of going this route is that your purchase decisions are sorted and you dont end up experimenting with speaker cables / inter connects etc..

One ends up focussing on the music rather than tinkering with various brands and trying to maken them work together.

Maybe you could audition the AP setup and decide if it is to your taste and sell the other makes of hardware you have.

Good luck !

regards

 

[spaace]

Thanks for educating me. Could you also clarify as to why this happens ? Is there anything inherently technical here ?

If so, all the generics would have died out and that hasn't happened. Or is that intentionally done to enhance the market?

Just do thatI know, does this mean I need not consider any of the brands you have listed, unless Iam willing to get their full stack?

Thanks
Arun

 

[mpw]

this happens as the designer has a common concept of how sound should sound like.

you may consider any brand you like but the possibility of sticking to one set of hardware... and only buying music can increase if you get the chain from 1 brand.

Thats why you may like to listen to AP and see if it catches your attention.

Of course there are no compulsions on buying and it ticks all your boxes including the Made in India approach which is appreciable.

I have heard AP products before.

Additionally you may PM FM Aurobindosaha as he has an AP chain in his home ( maybe he could spare some time for you )

Maybe.. just maybe .. AP would be able to float your boat.

The other Indian brands which are good ( IMO ) are Cadence from Pune and Rethm from Cochin.

regards

 

[spaace]

Thanks a lot. Could you also point me out to where I can get a hold on the data on ap Lines Freq distribution / distortion graphs please ?

I have been referring soundstage for my measurements so far.

Rgds
Arun

 

[mpw]

arun

i cant help you here.

i play by my ear normally..

My Mridangam master never measured ( god bless him ) ... it was always the sound... by the ear..



regards

 

[spaace]

I understand ...I will audition them though ...It's just that I find it hard to do a good job of it ...especially without a a/b and ap is not available anywhere else ....Thanks bud