$30K Budget - On the quest for my "end game" speaker

[AudioJester]

With all respect it was the 944s that are coloured and that is reflected in their measurements , the 8Cs are as good as it gets, but I understand you are a fan of MEG.
Keith

Lol. And we understand you sell 8C haha

Seriously you used to rave about Kii3, lost your deal with them - suddenly they were no longer the best, then got it back with the bass units and bang number 1 again. Hard to keep up, but I realise you only sell "the best". Anyway, i think its a good move jumping on the Kef band wagon - you will move a lot more! The Kef Blades are superb at the higher end of the range.

So many quality $30k options, nice bracket to be able to shop in.

 

[Purité Audio]

I still represent Kii and I still believe they are amongst the finest loudspeakers you can buy, the BXT modules do improve the Kiis but they are really only a benefit if you have a really large room and wish to play extremely loudly.
I sincerely hope KEF make an active version of the Blade.
Keith

 

[benanders]

For this discussion, if you’re going to spend $30K, it’s nice to know that the speakers are CAPABLE of playing bass at the same level of performance as say a $1000-2000 home theater setup. For many hobbyists with a windfall, it might make more sense to go $20k on the speaker and $10k on the subs.

For what it is worth, that movie scene is great. That scene is very early on and the story is that the dancer (Zhang Ziyi) is blind and there is a customer who will flick rice toward a drum and then she can repeat the drum. Sort of a “Simon says” game. The YouTube video pales in comparison to the sound experience you get from a Blu-Ray or even DTS 480p DVD. I assume the English dub and original Chinese language track are similarly well mastered — I haven’t actually confirmed that.

I really enjoyed the movie but that scene is a worthwhile home theater demo.

“The Echo Game” (House of Flying Daggers) - yes, good track, @GXAlan - THANK YOU!
I did not watch the YouTube link in your post.

Got a 1080p 5.1Ch copy of the movie and pulled out several extra satts (my “HT” is just 2.2 satts:subs, and I’m happy with that, but I keep extra satts on hand). Agree with you - good scene, good movie.

Next I went online for a FLAC copy of the track, listened to the lossless promo on headphones. Clear enough, but honestly, boring. I’ll admit I tend to disfavor cans, so my impression there isn’t bias-free.

Then finally, played the purchased FLAC file through my line arrays, and, WOWIE WEE WAAAH!!!
I’ve got a number of LPs and cds of traditional Japanese drums, some with superior fidelity to “The Echo Game,” but I’ve yet to hear another cut that’s so aggressive. Soundstage approached 180°, and I tend to think more than that would’ve been odd without the movie scene accompanying the music.

It would be interesting to know how that track was originally recorded and mixed. And then to what extent it [must surely have been!?] remixed / remastered for the 5.1Ch disc and stereo soundtrack album.

“The Echo Game” is now a permanent member of my demo tracks list. Love it!

 

[GXAlan]

Clear enough, but honestly, boring.
…
Then finally, played the purchased FLAC file through my line arrays, and, WOWIE WEE WAAAH!!!
…
“The Echo Game” is now a permanent member of my demo tracks list. Love it!

Right!? It’s such an unusual 2 channel track, because it can sound really lousy on some systems or jaw dropping, grin generating incredible for even the most jaded audiophile.

And yet, a cheap 5.1 setup playing the movie is pretty respectable which gives everyone an opportunity to have a reference to compare to.

The mastering engineer according to Discogs is

Kazushige Yamazaki

Explore the discography of Kazushige Yamazaki. Shop for vinyl, CDs, and more from Kazushige Yamazaki on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

Kazushige Yamazaki is at FLAIR which is JVC’s Studio where XRCD technology was a big deal.

Looking at his recent stuff, he has done mastering for Pony Canyon

Take a look at his speakers and it tells you a lot

KAZUSHIGE YAMAZAKI ｜ ENGINEERS ｜ FLAIR

victorstudio.jp

 

[MattHooper]

I still represent Kii and I still believe they are amongst the finest loudspeakers you can buy, the BXT modules do improve the Kiis but they are really only a benefit if you have a really large room and wish to play extremely loudly.
I sincerely hope KEF make an active version of the Blade.
Keith

I don't have your experience with those, but having auditioned the Kii 3 twice, and heard the BXT version twice, I concur.

I have not heard either version played really loud, but at the average levels I might listen at (e.g. 70 - 80dB or so), the Kii 3 went plenty deep and sounded full, and I didn't really notice a lot was added with the BXT model. But, again, I didn't really push either system. I'd guess the BXT model could give one a good throttling when played loud.

 

[Purité Audio]

Yes you can engage or disengage the BXTs almost instantly so fairly easy to compare, in terms of measurement with BXTs adds in my room around 3dB in terms of low bass output but nothing in extension, distortion levels are as you would expect much lower with, but hard to hear that distortion in the Kiis alone because the speaker detects and limits.
Keith

 

[thewas]

Well, replacing that will be a headache ...

MEG repairs even drivers and replaces the foam surrounds from their 70s models when they used to make the RFT loudspeakers in the Eastern Germany, mind you they are not cheap.

 

[MKR]

Howdy all … Just a quick check-in … on day 2 of the audition trip and will be posting my impressions hopefully tomorrow after I return home. Not possible to audition every loudspeaker on my shortlist, but I have/will be able to cover a good chunk of them … I will say there have definitely been some surprises

Stay tuned …

 

[Doodski]

Howdy all … Just a quick check-in … on day 2 of the audition trip and will be posting my impressions hopefully tomorrow after I return home. Not possible to audition every loudspeaker on my shortlist, but I have/will be able to cover a good chunk of them … I will say there have definitely been some surprises

Stay tuned …

Very cooL! I am looking forward to hearing about your experiences and reviews.

 

[FrantzM]

Very cooL! I am looking forward to hearing about your experiences and reviews.

+1

Peace.

 

[Bugal1998]

Howdy all … Just a quick check-in … on day 2 of the audition trip and will be posting my impressions hopefully tomorrow after I return home. Not possible to audition every loudspeaker on my shortlist, but I have/will be able to cover a good chunk of them … I will say there have definitely been some surprises

Stay tuned …

Were/are you able to see the target curve for any systems running room eq? Trinnov/GLM/etc.?

I ask becuase 1) I find the latest JBL curve supplied with trinnov to be just... awful (No highs or spaciousness, buried vocals, etc... Curious if the harman dealer is using it or not and what your impressions were), and 2) would be wonderful to see if any speaker impressions correspond to room eq differences for better or worse.

 

[MKR]

Were/are you able to see the target curve for any systems running room eq? Trinnov/GLM/etc.?

I ask becuase 1) I find the latest JBL curve supplied with trinnov to be just... awful (No highs or spaciousness, buried vocals, etc... Curious if the harman dealer is using it or not and what your impressions were), and 2) would be wonderful to see if any speaker impressions correspond to room eq differences for better or worse.

I will in fact be visiting the Harman dealer today and they are running the JBL SDP75 (Trinnov) and definitely planned to audition with/without the EQ enable. Will be sure to report my impressions. Note all other auditions have been without EQ, simply DAC to preamp to amp to speaker

 

[MattHooper]

Howdy all … Just a quick check-in … on day 2 of the audition trip and will be posting my impressions hopefully tomorrow after I return home. Not possible to audition every loudspeaker on my shortlist, but I have/will be able to cover a good chunk of them … I will say there have definitely been some surprises

Stay tuned …

I’ve completely lost track of which speakers you are after but it will be fun to read about your experiences listening!

 

[MKR]

I’ve completely lost track of which speakers you are after but it will be fun to read about your experiences listening!

For everyone‘s reference/reminder, the latest short list …

Revel Salon 2
Genelec 8351/61 + W371
KEF Blade One/Two Meta
KEF Reference 5 Meta
Revel Performa F328Be
JBL 4367
JBL S3900 / S4700
JBL M2
Vivid Audio Kaya 90
Kii 3 + BXT
Tom Danley Signature
GGNTKT M3
Magico A5

 

[MattHooper]

For everyone‘s reference/reminder, the latest short list …

Revel Salon 2
Genelec 8351/61 + W371
KEF Blade One/Two Meta
KEF Reference 5 Meta
Revel Performa F328Be
JBL 4367
JBL S3900 / S4700
JBL M2
Vivid Audio Kaya 90
Kii 3 + BXT
Tom Danley Signature
GGNTKT M3
Magico A5

Thanks. Wow, quite a list!

I’ve done Smorgasbord-level speaker auditioning before and I know others get a kick out of reading all sorts of comparisons.
This will be very interesting!

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

I hope this is not crapping on a thread.

I sincerely would like to conduct such a tour . These are all speakers I would yearn for, all but one for which I still have some prejudices/reservations, the Kaya, else.. a stellar list of great, full range loudspeakers. I am sure they will /would have , measure(d) great too,

In my own case such a long list would have resulted in paralysis, perhaps FOMO. I tend to think that many here can share the sentiment. Such feeling comes from my most recent audiophile experiences with the lowly JBL LSR 308. The journey started about 4 years ago(!). It took me that long a time, to optimize the system. Optimization of an audio system in a room is usually not achieved in a short time, unless conducted by highly skilled professionals and even then...
It is unlikely that all these systems swill be optimized. At the level of excellence , that makes or break the experience. I would have focused on a much shorter list, perhaps 5 speakers, knowing very well that any speaker on this list, when correctly integrated in a room, is certain to provide years of Audio bliss.

Good Luck

Peace.

 

[mglobe]

For everyone‘s reference/reminder, the latest short list …

Revel Salon 2
Genelec 8351/61 + W371
KEF Blade One/Two Meta
KEF Reference 5 Meta
Revel Performa F328Be
JBL 4367
JBL S3900 / S4700
JBL M2
Vivid Audio Kaya 90
Kii 3 + BXT
Tom Danley Signature
GGNTKT M3
Magico A5

Anyone making predictions...?

 

[Purité Audio]

The speaker which is auditioned in the dealer who has bothered to pay attention to the room and set-up.
Keith

 

[Bugal1998]

Hi

I hope this is not crapping on a thread.

I sincerely would like to conduct such a tour . These are all speakers I would yearn for, all but one for which I still have some prejudices/reservations, the Kaya, else.. a stellar list of great, full range loudspeakers. I am sure they will /would have , measure(d) great too,

In my own case such a long list would have resulted in paralysis, perhaps FOMO. I tend to think that many here can share the sentiment. Such feeling comes from my most recent audiophile experiences with the lowly JBL LSR 308. The journey started about 4 years ago(!). It took me that long a time, to optimize the system. Optimization of an audio system in a room is usually not achieved in a short time, unless conducted by highly skilled professionals and even then...
It is unlikely that all these systems swill be optimized. At the level of excellence , that makes or break the experience. I would have focused on a much shorter list, perhaps 5 speakers, knowing very well that any speaker on this list, when correctly integrated in a room, is certain to provide years of Audio bliss.

Good Luck

Peace.

These types of endeavors can't really be about finding the best speaker, and I had no such illusions during my own search.

I knew full well that room and/or optimization could potentially make a lesser speaker outperform a superior speaker. But if I found a speaker that met or exceeded my expectations, then I at least knew the speaker was capable of delighting me, and if I was dissappointed it was my room/setup/calibration that was the issue.

 

[Mr. Widget]

Thanks. Wow, quite a list!

I’ve done Smorgasbord-level speaker auditioning before and I know others get a kick out of reading all sorts of comparisons.
This will be very interesting!

Yes, a great list. We are all waiting with bated breath!