Home Speaker Comparison

[blackraven]

The other day my son wanted to hear how his inexpensive (less than $100pr) KLH 900B speakers would sound on a higher end system. So we decided to have a shootout with all the book shelf speakers in my house on my reference system.

Speakers-

KLH Model 900B which is a rather large bookshelf speaker, a 3 way design with an 8" woofer

Monitor Audio S1, a 2 way design with a 6" woofer in a small enclosure that listed for $650 pr

Infinity Primus 160's, a large 2 way design with a 6" woofer, $160pr

Amp-Parasound Halo A21
Preamp- Van Alstine Hybrid Ultra with current factory mod
DAC- Van Alstine Hybrid Ultra with current factory mod

Music- Jazz, Classical, Vocal, Blues and RR.

To say I was surprised is an understatement. All 3 speakers sounded good to very good. The clear winner was the Monitor Audio which really came into its own here. Imaging and sound stage were superb. Mid bass was excellent and punchy. High's were crystal clear and transparent. The music had a very smooth quality. I could easily live with these speakers in my day to day system. I have been using them with a vintage 1976 Technic's integrated amp and a Denon 1920 DVD player. I had been disappointed in the sound with the S1's until now. It looks like I have to upgrade the system with a DAC and better amp to get the most out of the S1's.
This music CD was my best reference CD and S1's really brought out the nuances of the music. http://www.amazon.com/This-K2-Sound-.../dp/B000VD9KK2

2nd Place went to the KLH's. These are very large bookshelf speakers with an 8" woofer and the sound really benefited from the size of the woofer and 3 way design. Bass was excellent, deep, punchy and controlled (the S1's had a tighter sound). The midrange was smooth and sweet with a nice warmth. The sound stage and imaging was good but again not as good as the S1's. High frequency was fair to average. The highs were not as detailed and seemed a little congested at times. This speaker really shined when paired with higher end gear. Not bad for a speaker that cost me $80pr at Best Buy years ago.

3rd place went to the Infinity's. These speakers excelled in the midrange and high frequency but bass was lacking some. It would greatly benefit from a sub. Otherwise the speaker had surprising detail and clarity with good imaging and sound stage. Interestingly, the sensitivity is listed a 90 on this speaker which is higher than the 88dB of the S1's, but I had to realy turn up the volume to get the same loudness.

In conclusion, what I really learned from this trial was that you can get really good sound from inexpensive speakers when they are paired with higher end gear.

One side note, does any one have any suggestions for upgrading the tweeters on the KLH model 900B's. It uses the 6ohm version of this tweeter- http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=279-116

Thanks,

Larry