Good speaker kit

[lawbadman]

Hi,
As you can tell from the subject I am in the market for a really good speaker kit, the max I want to spend is $1000. I have been scouring the internet for the past two months and I think I have found a good kit, it's the S5 MT from Bemberg Engineering: http://www.bamberglab.com/s5mt.shtml

What do you guys think? It's a bit over my budget but I would buy it piece by piece.
Are there any better sounding kit around for a similar price?


Al suggestions are welcome.



Thanks
Lawrence

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

I think you could do better in terms of sensitivity. 84db is pretty low.

[tktran]

Can you tell us more about your

1. Room
2. Room
3. Room
4. Listening positioning and loudness preferences.

IME there is nothing wrong with low sensitivity speakers IF you have lots of good clean power to drive them (>100 watts per channel) AND you intend to place them in a small to medium sized room, listening at small to medium volume levels.

It seems that almost all 2 driver 2 ways will fall into this category of mid to low 80s sensitivity.

In a bigger room and at live-like levels (80dB sustained and 110dB transient peaks not at 1 metre but at typical seated/standing position say 3 metres away) I agree with Bill, you want something higher in sensivity and, higher power handling.

[lawbadman]

Thanks for the replys so far.

My room is actually my dorm room so its not very big, actually its small, its about 13 x 19 feet. My listening position is about 1.5 meters away. I dont mind low sensitivity that much, I have plans to build a pair of UCD400 amps anyway. I listen at moderate levels mostly.


Thanks

[johninCR]

For nearfield listening and that kind of budget I think you are better off buying a pair of really good full range drivers and use a sub to fill in the low bass if you need to.

If you get drivers with a highish Q then you can go OB with small baffles. I use OB at just under 1.5m and they give a more open and larger image and soundstage than boxed speakers at that distance. I think a multiway speaker is going to be problematic up that close.

OB is especially good in a dorm or apartment environment because you can listen much louder without disturbing your neighbors. A pair of Visaton B200's for example would bring you in well under budget. Plus OB is the simplest to build, easiest to tweak, and IMHO provide the most natural sound.

[TerryO]

I haven't heard this speaker, however Phil Bamberg has often (and for many years) been referred to as "the King of Crossovers". I have never heard anything but high praise for his designs, so you probably wouldn't go wrong if you took this route. Another design that is probably in the same league is the Ellis 1801 which was designed, IIRC, by Dennis Murphy.
IMNSHO, if you go with either design you'd be starting near the top, given your situation :^)

Best Regards,
TerryO

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

My concern with low sensitivity is thermal compression. Of course if you don't play loud rock or orchestral, it's a lesser matter.

[dw1narso]

For a might be cheaper alternative, still with SEAS metal drivers, you may want to check: http://www.zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker17.html

But it is not available as kit, though I belive you can ask Madisound on the parts used for this project.

REgards,
---
David

[planet10]

Originally posted by johninCR
A pair of Visaton B200's for example would bring you in well under budget

A beauty that one is...

dave

[dw1narso]

A beauty that one is...

Hi Dave,

since you are mentioning about Visaton B200's beauty... do you have any suggestion on how best to implement it?

BTW, I still have the Delco FR that I got from you last year... do not have time and room yet... to use them...

Regards,
---
David