speakers for ta-10

[beatgeek]

Hello- I'm trying to put together my first hifi, after having heard my friend's father's megabuck audiophile system bring me to tears with its beautiful music. I do not have megabucks, so I'm trying to get the most bang-for-the-buck. To that end, I'll be getting a Trends TA-10 soon, and I know it will need efficient speakers. AFAIK, the only cheap (ie under about $400) efficient speakers are Klipsch bookshelves, Axiom M3ti, Hawthorne Silver Iris, and other full-range drivers.

The Klipsch bookshelves are the only ones I can "try before I buy", and although I know this is improper procedure for auditioning speakers, I walked into Best Buy and listened to them (BB had them connected to a Denon amp), and I thought they suffered from digititis or something. Not impressed. Obviously they will sound different connected to my amp and my source in my room, but I still had enough doubts that I am still looking into other speakers while I wait for my amp to arrive.

So I'm looking for your input. I've got a tiny room: 10'x12'. Hopefully this will change within the year, but I don't foresee my future room being more than a few feet bigger. I'll be using the speakers on the sides of my desk, so they'll be borderline close enough to affect my CRT. Also, in such a small room, they need to be against the back wall (as much as 10" between speaker and wall is ok), and they could be put in the corners if I need to get them further away from the CRT.

I listen to a wide variety of music- classical, jazz/funk/folk/whatever, rock, and a lot of electronic music. I don't need bass to shatter my brain, but I do need it, which has me seriously considering the BIB speaker design. I read several pages of that thread, but at almost 300 pages long it's definitely overwhelming and full of irrelevant posts. First of all- is a BIB design even appropriate for my situation? And if not, what are your other suggestions, particularly directed toward someone who has never built speakers before?

[sharpi31]

If you manage to find some have a listen to the Loth-X BS1.......

Really efficient with a mid/bass driver running full range and tweeter kicking in above 10KHz.

I have these speakers and also magneplanars, fostex fe207e bass reflex and others. The BS1 is magical in smaller rooms with low powered amps (the sort of speaker I will never sell!).

Good luck!

[Pano]

The BIB might be the ticket, if you have the room. There are a number of sizes, from medium to huge.

The Trends won't do much power, so sensitive speakers will really help. Speakers with two 8 ohm drivers in parallel can get pretty loud and the Trends will drive 4 ohms just fine.

You do want to keep the T-Amps form clipping, they don't sound good when they clip. So sensitive speakers are a must for smooth sound.

Best of luck with the project and let us know what you find!

[beatgeek]

The Loth-X websites don't seem to be working... did they bite the dust?

Today I just discovered the Hammer Dynamics Super 12, which seems similar to the Loth-X in some ways (efficient, tweeter crossover around 10khz), and it's in DIY kit form complete with instructions.

As for the BIB, I have searched for a concise all-in-one-place set of instructions for a general BIB, and I come up with nothing. A scale picture of lengths/ratios may be fine for people experienced in this sort of thing, but for the rest of us, it's like, "what do I do with this?" If I took the picture to Home Depot, could they help me? And then I just put the driver in the hole? Somebody ought to make a wiki or something.

Anyway, that project will be for the future, since I won a bid for a Klipsch that I made in a moment of desperation. (I didn't expect to win- my bid was so low!) At least now I'll have a reference for later comparison, and I don't imagine I'll be losing money if I end up selling it.

[sharpi31]

Try this link for an active Loth-X dealer....

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