I am looking for some guidance on the sound differences between these two speaker models. I have read Amir's measurements and reviews, but I would appreciate some observations of others based mainly upon listening experiences vs measurements. If I like the sound of the M16's, is it likely that I will like the M105's even better? I have an opportunity to get the M105's at a discounted price which is close to the M16 price. Is that a no-brainer, or do some people prefer the less expensive M16's, and if so, please explain why. Thank-you.
I will start by saying that for $825 you should find out. I am pretty sure you could resell the M105's at no loss of $.
There are several folks here at ASR who have mentioned upgrading and not one has suggested not to nor has anyone else that I am aware of gone back to the Concerta2 from the Performa3 or BE.
Revel did an amazing job with the Concerta2, they also did an amazing job with the Perfroma lines.
In the past I had a set of M105's. I used them in a small room and larger room. They are great in a small room and in a larger room NEED bass help and NEED to be highpassed at 80-120hrz, otherwise they sound small. Especially at high volumes. I sold them at the time as I purchased them for a low price and was able to make out well passing them along and getting more speakers to try.
Fast forward a couple years and I picked up the M16 on a whim due to a deal price and like them very much. I prefer them over many speakers that I have used, even including the $2.2k KEF R3. I can not compare them with the M105's as they are long gone.
I can compare them with the M126be. Because I liked the M16's so much I thought why not try the M106's and went to buy a set. Ended up just doing the M126be. I was actually very skeptical they would hold value in the face of several great and less expensive speakers I own. Forget about it, the only thing that I have to deal with is the disappointment of how the M16's sound going back to them after using the M126be's. The M126be's are so good I am actually surprised. (Totally worth the full retail $ and a reasonable dealer will sell them to you for much less $4400.)
These are seriously good speakers and while bass limited like nearly all bookshelves still sound so wonderful alone. I do use a steep 40hrz HP to cut deep bass excursions or powered sub package that crossed in about 70hrz with the M126be high passed there.
The M126be is better than the M16 in every way bar none, it is subtle at first though decidedly there and and then startling upon going back to the M16's. The M126be is really, really good. They are in fact truly wonderful. They are what I think a very high end monitor ought to be and in this case is.
That is how I recommend you go about this. Use the M105's for a few days or a week and then go back to the M16's. You can also do the back and forth thing of course.
I would make sure to gauge the stereo effects. These REVEL waveguides help create a very pleasing version of the stereo effect and you would be remiss to ignore it's value. The dispersion characteristics of them are just so wonderful and right to my ears. They also have a wide sweet spot and since my GF listens with me often is huge.
Considering the price differential (if money matters to you) the question to ask yourself
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You simply can not compare predicted in room steady state response charts.
That is not what your speaker sounds like at all. It is not a "cliff notes" of the sound character.
If you read Floyd Toole's book he makes that quite clear. I mean there is a reason the book is hundreds of pages long.
Don't understand why this happens so much here at ASR when in fact it runs 180 counter to what the various folks who essentially created the charts say, which is to look at the whole Spinorama and the polar maps and the then determine IMD/HD-Essential power handing SPL needs.
Geddes, Olive, Toole, Linkwitz all the big publishers on this side of the design pond.
You do not actually hear the steady state in room response at all. You might be aware of it's trend but that is not enough to describe what you hear.
The only thing of note regarding it, is that typically, speakers that measure well on and off axis in an anechoic space, have a general downward trend in this response. However you gague the sound by looking at the major data, not this chart. This represents the equilibrium between sound generation and eventual dissipation. It hardly tells you anything more.
Plus it in this case it is a
prediction not even an
actual measurement in your space.
You can not really cheat and over simplify, that is what this whole site is about, you have to look at the whole data package and even then some meaningful unknown still exits.