Floorstanders that will deliver on the low end for under £3000?

[nickbaba]

Suggestions appreciated... I listen to a lot of 70s dub from vinyl, as well as electronica/techno.

I have used (and still do) Cerwin Vegas (XLS 12s). They're more ugly sister than cinderella but they do move some air around. Not too bad in the mid and tops either, to my eras, but not well regarded in hi-fi circles.

Looking for speakers for a second system, most probably will be powered by an XTZ AP-100, hence thinking about the XTZ 99.36 mkii's. I read that they do deliver plenty of bass but not 100% convinced by the 6.5" woofer ;). The Divine 100.49's are going to be out of my budget, sadly.

Want to avoid the route of adding an extra subwoofer in the room if poss, for simplicity's sake.

Any one box solutions out there? High SQ without skimping on the low freqs?

[icehockeyboy]

Having always had a sub in my system, I had cause to turn off the socket it was plugged into the other day.

You know what? The Ushers didn't miss it a jot, just as much clean bass there without it.

My vote goes to my Ushers, which despite not being available new any more, can still be had pre owned.

[Stratmangler]

My FH3s cope pretty well without a sub, and they're using a 4" driver ;)

[walpurgis]

Tannoy Turnberry! No shortage of deep bass, or anything else.

[nickbaba]

OK... so sounds like you think a 6.5" woofer might be up to the job, after all. Tricky thing with the XTZ 99s... I can audition them at home, but if I don't like them, I have to pay shipping back to Sweden, I guess... for a pair of heavy large-ish speakers thats not an inviting prospect.

[Stratmangler]

OK... so sounds like you think a 6.5" woofer might be up to the job, after all.

Where do you get that from?
It might be, but then again it might not.

The Mark Audio CHP-70 is a very special driver.

[nickbaba]

Where do you get that from?


The other chap with the Ushers. Altho' his woofers are 7".

[Macca]

Personally I'd stick with the Cerwin Vegas but if you want more refinement without losing the bass then you could try B&W 683 - you'd have about £2200 left over too.

[freefallrob]

Go forth and seek out suitably sized JBL's;)

[Stratmangler]

The other chap with the Ushers. Altho' his woofers are 7".

Speaker size is not necessarily an indicator of bass quality, or quantity for that matter.

[Tarzan]

ProAc's are known for their large posterior.:eek:

[sq225917]

Look it's simple, cone surface area x Xmax. You either need huge throw or a lot of surface area to give real bass. If you're playing dub there's way more going on down under 50hz in that than there is in any type of popular music so you need speakers that do bass. if they don't has 12" drivers of an array of 3-4 6" or larger than forget it they aren't doing bass, despite what anyone claims. There's plenty of speakers out there with a nice big hump at 80hz that you can feel in your chest, but it ain't bass.

[Welder]

Best option if you're not confident with woodwork is the cabinet kit.
If however you were prepared to cough up for 28mm marine plywood, or better still make a laminate of flooring grade chip board and 18mm ply for example, I think these will outperform anything you are likely to buy in your price range new and probably a lot of second hand speakers.

I've listened to a hand built set closest to the Platinum option and I think they're stunning.

http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/prestige-loudspeakers-90-c.asp

[Stratmangler]

Best option if you're not confident with woodwork is the cabinet kit.
If however you were prepared to cough up for 28mm marine plywood, or better still make a laminate of flooring grade chip board and 18mm ply for example, I think these will outperform anything you are likely to buy in your price range new and probably a lot of second hand speakers.

I've listened to a hand built set closest to the Platinum option and I think they're stunning.

http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/prestige-loudspeakers-90-c.asp

I remember hearing some Wilmslow Audio kit speakers at The Manchester HiFi show a few years ago.
They sounded awful.
It turns out that they'd just built the speakers for the show and didn't bother building them with enough time to run them in.

Not the best of moves.

They'd also partnered the speakers with an Icon Audio amplifier - can't remember which model.
I've yet to hear an Icon Audio amp that played music, so that won't have helped either.

[Welder]

What can I say Chris. I take it you didn’t listen to these, so what models/s did you hear?

I listened to a hand built set of these a lot (once a week for over a year) a couple of years ago and they were, and as far a I know still are, absolutely gorgeous sounding speakers with deep accurate bass, which is what I believe the OP is after.

Like any speaker, you need the right amplification to get it to sing. The set I listened to were/are powered by 200 Watt SS amps

[Beobloke]

Getting hold of them could be an issue as they no longer have an official UK importer, but if you can find yourself a pair of RRR FS100s you'll have a speaker with some of the most astonishing bass I've ever heard, with imaging to match. Their UK RRP in 2007 was £1100 IIRC and a place in Italy has them for €699 per pair. Not sure if they'd ship them to the UK or what this would cost, as they weigh 40kg each!

http://www.hifidirect.it/prodotti.html

Downsides? Well, the tweeter isn't the smoothest in the world but is probably still nicer than your C-Vs. Also, they are something of a challenging load, and drop down to less than 3 Ohms in places, so make sure the XTZ can cope!

[Stratmangler]

It's a while ago, so I can't truthfully remember the models concerned.
The Prestige range looks familiar, so one of the models might have been from that family. I do remember a silver finish. And it was a new model in the range.

As I said, they foolishly hadn't run the drive units in :doh:

Icon Audio were relatively new on the scene, and at this show provided amplifiers for many of the exhibitors to use, so that again will not have helped.

[nickbaba]

Personally I'd stick with the Cerwin Vegas

At last - some support for the Cerwins on AoS heh heh! :rolleyes:

[Macca]

At last - some support for the Cerwins on AoS heh heh! :rolleyes:

I may be many things but a hi-fi snob I aint. :)

[MikeMusic]

Isobariks

SHould I change my name to Isobarikman ?
:)

[nickbaba]

Lots of interesting suggestions on here, gentlemen. Good stuff!

[Gazjam]

Colin Topp's Eddingdale floorstander did bass really REALLY well when I heard them at Owsten.

[Reffc]

Some used vintage JBLs or Goodmans? Nice big woofers.

[RobbieGong]

Yeah, Another shout for some nice vintage JBL's. Long history and rep for doing proper big speakers that can deliver weight, scale and dynamic !

[nickbaba]

Last time I was looking for speakers I remember going to audition some JBLs... I think they were ES100's, with the twin 10" woofers.
I remember being distinctly underwhelmed. Top end was thin and brittle, bottom end seemed bloated and loose.
But maybe vintage JBL is another story? I don't have experience with any vintage JBL speakers.

[Macca]

I've been looking for some big vintage JBLs for years so good luck with that.

[hoopsontoast]

These have got to be worth a punt:
http://www.hifiwigwam.com/showthread.php?93764-Profile-Model-10-Full-Range-Monitor-Speakers-1980s-VINTAGE-HIGH-END-VOLT-SEAS

[nickbaba]

I used to have some of these: Pioneer CS-99A's.
They look great but didn't have much bottom end below about 150Hz... I don't think 70s speakers in general were constructed with super-low freq reproduction in mind, as most music back then didn't feature synthesized sub bass. They were great on the mid-rangey folk/rock sound of the time, tho.... 10748

[Chops]

How about s/h PMC ob1i speakers? These should come in under £3k if you can find them. According to the specs they go down to 28hz with allegedly low distortion via transmission lines. I have the next model up (pb1i) and very pleased I am. :)

[iJoe]

How about s/h PMC ob1i speakers? These should come in under £3k if you can find them. According to the specs they go down to 28hz with allegedly low distortion via transmission lines. I have the next model up (pb1i) and very pleased I am. :)

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/loudspeakers/pmc-ob1.html

Rare to find a modern speaker without a peaky bass from ports, but this may be it. Love the Kendrik sound blog on JBLs. http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?9504-Kenrick-Sound

[icehockeyboy]

How about s/h PMC ob1i speakers? These should come in under £3k if you can find them. According to the specs they go down to 28hz with allegedly low distortion via transmission lines. I have the next model up (pb1i) and very pleased I am. :)

Fwiw, my FB1+'s went down fairly low according to the spec sheet, but they certainly didn't have the bass most people thought they would have, me included.

[Chops]

Fwiw, my FB1+'s went down fairly low according to the spec sheet, but they certainly didn't have the bass most people thought they would have, me included.

I haven't heard the FB1+'s. I heard OB1i's some while ago alongside PB1i's and now live with the PB1i's. As I recollect, they are similar in presentation. I wouldn't call the bass on my PB1i over-pronounced but you'll definitely hear it if its there. Evenhanded I would say.

[iJoe]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tannoy-Definition-DC8T-3-1-Home-Cinema-Speakers-/321229523352?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_HomeAudio HiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item4acac58998

Think I've found them. Was looking for the DC10T but found these. There's a nice big bass hump too! http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hifitest.de%2Ftest%2Flautsprech er_stereo%2Ftannoy-definition_dc8_t_3491.php%3Fp%3D4

EDIT; another link - sorry :) http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.php/loudspeakers/65-reviews/387-tannoy-dc8t-march-12-issue.html?start=3