Favorite standmount speaker under $2,500

[JohnMichael]

Hi JM....the new Galo speaker will be released oon...in about a month per my dealer. I cant wait to take a listen. Don't know if you have a dealer near you but they are in your budget.



Anthony Gallo Acoustics :: Satellite Speakers | Audio Loudspeaker | Speakers

Wow thanks so much I followed the link and found a dealer just about 30 miles away and a brand new audio shop I did not know existed.

[RGA]

I will try to talk you out of standmounts.

Think bout the reason most people buy standmounts? Price and size. But size is a non issue since you have to buy a stand - they they still take up the SAME footprint in your room. If you have to have a free standing loudspeaker then you have gutted most of the living space around the speakers anyway.

And you usually give up sensitivity, bass, dynamics, and volume with most standmount speakers. You say sensitivity is not an issue but even if you have a billion watt amplifier maybe one day you hear a really good system that changes your mind as it does for many and it would be nice not to have to dump the speakers. A HE speaker can be run with 1000 watt amps or 5 watt amps. You get more choice as a result.

Giving up all that for what? Take B&W - I would sooner buy the B&W 604 floorstander than an N805. Yes the 805 has a better tweeter but it's still not great - and the 604 has a much fuller range sound which hides it's tweeter a little better. It's far more open and engaging with weight and drive. The 805 is a grand more and light weight anaemic. Same footprint. Some designers are much better with their standmounts over their floorstanders of course so this doesn't apply to all but I would be looking hard at the floorstanders (don't need to buy a stand) and you may not immediately feel you want a subwoofer (which takes up yet more space).

There are very few standmounts that satisfy me when the price is $2000. I can accept no bass impact dynamics at $700 but at $2500 it better sound better than a B&W, Revel, Dynaudio, Paradigm.

I would look at a used set of Gallo 3.5 speakers - the footprint is very small they don't have high power demands though they can take big power.

[JohnMichael]

I will try to talk you out of standmounts.

Think bout the reason most people buy standmounts? Price and size. But size is a non issue since you have to buy a stand - they they still take up the SAME footprint in your room. If you have to have a free standing loudspeaker then you have gutted most of the living space around the speakers anyway.

And you usually give up sensitivity, bass, dynamics, and volume with most standmount speakers. You say sensitivity is not an issue but even if you have a billion watt amplifier maybe one day you hear a really good system that changes your mind as it does for many and it would be nice not to have to dump the speakers. A HE speaker can be run with 1000 watt amps or 5 watt amps. You get more choice as a result.



Giving up all that for what? Take B&W - I would sooner buy the B&W 604 floorstander than an N805. Yes the 805 has a better tweeter but it's still not great - and the 604 has a much fuller range sound which hides it's tweeter a little better. It's far more open and engaging with weight and drive. The 805 is a grand more and light weight anaemic. Same footprint. Some designers are much better with their standmounts over their floorstanders of course so this doesn't apply to all but I would be looking hard at the floorstanders (don't need to buy a stand) and you may not immediately feel you want a subwoofer (which takes up yet more space).

There are very few standmounts that satisfy me when the price is $2000. I can accept no bass impact dynamics at $700 but at $2500 it better sound better than a B&W, Revel, Dynaudio, Paradigm.

I would look at a used set of Gallo 3.5 speakers - the footprint is very small they don't have high power demands though they can take big power.

The reason I would want standmounts is smaller cabinets and less resonance. The OML1's are both horizontally and vertically braced and have minimal cabinet vibrations compared to the RS6's. I like a rigid cabinet and I think it is easier to find in a small speaker in my budget than one with larger cabinets.

[RGA]

The reason I would want standmounts is smaller cabinets and less resonance. The OML1's are both horizontally and vertically braced and have minimal cabinet vibrations compared to the RS6's. I like a rigid cabinet and I think it is easier to find in a small speaker in my budget than one with larger cabinets.

Well that is true of some makers but the Gallo 3.5 has no such cabinet issues.

[Ajani]

I will try to talk you out of standmounts.

Huh? Aren't all the speakers by your favourite brand (with the exception of the AZ one and two) stand mounts? Even the AN-E has a stand to get it to a proper height (if I'm not mistaken)...

[RGA]

The AN J and E are standmounts but compete with full range floorstanders - no other standmount that I have heard does that for anything remotely an affordable price. All standmounts I have heard sound like puny ass little speakers and for small money that is fine but at ~$3k it's too much money IMO to live without a huge spectrum of sound.

I prefer meat on the bones to my sound even if it comes with a little bit of grit.

The Reference 3a MM de Capo and and Audio Note AN K/SPE is about the bare minimum in bass and dynamics that I would be willing to accept and reason both are in my favorites in the price class. The K/Spe is a sealed box infinite baffle design and is not strictly speaking a corner loaded design. Though because it's sealed it works well in corners. The Decapo has more frequency response issues but a darker sound makes them more inviting with poorly recorded music. The K/Spe is not nice to lesser equipment so I only recommend them in certain situations.

When Hi-Fi Choice did their blind level matched sessions with the AN J the bass simply destroyed all the other speakers in the test so they had to pull it out and put them into their full range floorstander sessions - the AN J still won amongst the many listeners and they all commented that the bass still bettered the floorstanders. So while technically they are standmount speakers because they require a stand to get the tweeter at the correct height they ought to be considered floorstanders with regards to performance. This can't be said for the likes of the B&W N805s and all speakers that size and general shape - none of them ever even remotely perform like floorstanders.

There are some big standmounts from Harbeth like the M40 that have about the same general bass depth of the AN J. But it costs three times more money and is physically a lot larger - nice sounding IMO though.

[Ajani]

The AN J and E are standmounts but compete with full range floorstanders - no other standmount that I have heard does that for anything remotely an affordable price. All standmounts I have heard sound like puny ass little speakers and for small money that is fine but at ~$3k it's too much money IMO to live without a huge spectrum of sound.

I prefer meat on the bones to my sound even if it comes with a little bit of grit.

The Reference 3a MM de Capo and and Audio Note AN K/SPE is about the bare minimum in bass and dynamics that I would be willing to accept and reason both are in my favorites in the price class. The K/Spe is a sealed box infinite baffle design and is not strictly speaking a corner loaded design. Though because it's sealed it works well in corners. The Decapo has more frequency response issues but a darker sound makes them more inviting with poorly recorded music. The K/Spe is not nice to lesser equipment so I only recommend them in certain situations.

When Hi-Fi Choice did their blind level matched sessions with the AN J the bass simply destroyed all the other speakers in the test so they had to pull it out and put them into their full range floorstander sessions - the AN J still won amongst the many listeners and they all commented that the bass still bettered the floorstanders. So while technically they are standmount speakers because they require a stand to get the tweeter at the correct height they ought to be considered floorstanders with regards to performance. This can't be said for the likes of the B&W N805s and all speakers that size and general shape - none of them ever even remotely perform like floorstanders.

There are some big standmounts from Harbeth like the M40 that have about the same general bass depth of the AN J. But it costs three times more money and is physically a lot larger - nice sounding IMO though.

Fair enough.. We don't disagree in major way on this one... I do generally prefer floorstanders and closer to fullrange sound...

Also, I wouldn't buy the B&W 805S as I feel they are too bass light and bright... However, there are monitors that deliver bass comparable to a small floorstander (not fullrange and likely not as impressive as the AN J but still much better than the the usual monitors)... The Dynaudio Focus 140 mentioned earlier will deliver good bass (though I really don't like the tweeter - way too laid back for me)... & the Revel Performa M22 will provide good bass for most types of music as well... At $2.5K (including stands) I could live with the bass of the M22, above that I'd have to save up for $4K Towers...

So there's actually a gap in my buying range at the moment - up to $2.5K, I could live with Monitors (just not the really bass deficient, wimpy ones)... Above $4K I'd buy nothing but Towers... And currently between $2.5K and $4K, there's nothing I'd buy...

[JohnMichael]

I will try to talk you out of standmounts.

Think bout the reason most people buy standmounts? Price and size. But size is a non issue since you have to buy a stand - they they still take up the SAME footprint in your room. If you have to have a free standing loudspeaker then you have gutted most of the living space around the speakers anyway.

r.

A speaker stand and a tower speaker may have the same footprint but a tower speaker takes up more visual space. Interior design is important to me and I live in a smaller space. I find a standmount on dual front and back column speaker stand to take up less of the room visually. The OML1's on the Sanus SF22 stand is less obtrusive than the RS6 floor standers. I have to keep the audiophile and interior designer in me happy.