# 2 Channel Full Range- Reccomendations



## airpiratehkg (May 27, 2008)

Ok folks I realize choosing speakers is highly dependent on personal taste. I am child of the '70s so JBL L100's (x4) are what I was raised on and I guess that type of sound is what I prefer. Who makes honest full range (unpowered) speakers these days? I want to run a set of speakers and not be dependent on a sub. My budget is $2,000/pair. Repeat no sub.. s


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

airpiratehkg said:


> Ok folks I realize choosing speakers is highly dependent on personal taste. I am child of the '70s so JBL L100's (x4) are what I was raised on and I guess that type of sound is what I prefer. Who makes honest full range (unpowered) speakers these days? I want to run a set of speakers and not be dependent on a sub. My budget is $2,000/pair. Repeat no sub.. s


A quick question before I start throwing out some suggestions.. but what do you consider full range? i.e., how low are you talking about? 20Hz? 50hz? and how big of a room are you thinking about? A smaller room is easier to "fill".


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## PT800 (Feb 19, 2008)

airpiratehkg said:


> Ok folks I realize choosing speakers is highly dependent on personal taste. I am child of the '70s so JBL L100's (x4) are what I was raised on and I guess that type of sound is what I prefer. Who makes honest full range (unpowered) speakers these days? I want to run a set of speakers and not be dependent on a sub. My budget is $2,000/pair. Repeat no sub.. s


If you stay with JBL, the Studio L890 towers would do the trick. They've got dual 8" drivers and play down to 28 htz, and they play loud. The highs and midrange are very clean, mid-bass full. 
While I was veneering my subs and mains 3 years ago I used the L890s w/o sub in a 3200 cuft room. With a 220w amp those things were very impressive.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The SVS MTS-01 floor standers get really good reviews and for the money ($1419) you wont find much better. They have a frequency response of 38Hz to 27kHz.


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## Bruce (Sep 14, 2006)

I'd look at a pair of Dynaudio speakers. Depends on what size of room, but you might look into a pair of used Contour 1.3 monitors.

Dynaudio also makes some new models, Focus, that are getting good reviews, but I can only vouch for what I actually listened to and what I now own -- Contour 2.8 towers, Contour 1.1 monitors, and a Contour Center.


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## HionHiFi (Feb 18, 2007)

airpiratehkg said:


> Ok folks I realize choosing speakers is highly dependent on personal taste. I am child of the '70s so JBL L100's (x4) are what I was raised on and I guess that type of sound is what I prefer. Who makes honest full range (unpowered) speakers these days? I want to run a set of speakers and not be dependent on a sub. My budget is $2,000/pair. Repeat no sub.. s


What did you end up going with?


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## Sam Ash (Aug 23, 2009)

airpiratehkg said:


> Ok folks I realize choosing speakers is highly dependent on personal taste. I am child of the '70s so JBL L100's (x4) are what I was raised on and I guess that type of sound is what I prefer. Who makes honest full range (unpowered) speakers these days? I want to run a set of speakers and not be dependent on a sub. My budget is $2,000/pair. Repeat no sub.. s


I really like the KEF floor standing range, if you have not already made the move get to hear them before you proceed. Have a look/hear the Q-Series and the XQ-Series and tell us what you think.

By the way, I got to hear the high end KEF Reference Series - I was like :yikes: - they sound amazing !

In the end, it's all about your own personal preference.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

tonyvdb said:


> The SVS MTS-01 floor standers get really good reviews and for the money ($1419) you wont find much better. They have a frequency response of 38Hz to 27kHz.


I've heard some people tout the superior sound of 3 ways, yet SVS went with 2 ways for their best full range speaker-can these really perform as well as good 3 ways? I also noticed the tweeter is superior to every other speaker I could find (any price), yet it doesn't handle the critical midrange, so I wonder if the MTS could be bested by a competitor in the price range. 
I wish I could hear these demo'd as I can't afford to drop a couple hundred in shipping for a trial run. I'm really considering building my own 5.0 with anarchy mids, but I'm thinking it all over as I saw some MTS-01's for $900 and wonder how good sounding they really are, plus they are rated to 38hz, when I'd really like to run my mains full range without a sub required when listening to stereo music, but maybe my expectations are unrealistic? :help::bigsmile:


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

ironglen said:


> I've heard some people tout the superior sound of 3 ways, yet SVS went with 2 ways for their best full range speaker-can these really perform as well as good 3 ways? I also noticed the tweeter is superior to every other speaker I could find (any price), yet it doesn't handle the critical midrange, so I wonder if the MTS could be bested by a competitor in the price range.


It will be very hard to better the MTS speakers simply because there is no sales people to pay and no brick and mortar buildings to pay rent on. Internet direct really save the consumer alot of money. There is going to be no difference between a 2 way and a 3 way speaker unless you get into some very expensive lines. I have 2 ways and they do very well with REW and have a great smooth frequency response right through the mid-range and up. Room acoustics play a much larger part in how well a speaker will preform.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Thanks Tony. Do you run your mains with your samson @220w/ch? I like my RnR music turned up to fill the whole house while I'm doing housework/chores,etc., so I was curious because I have a samson servo 550 (225-285w/ch) that I'd like to run my future mains, of course in this situation I'd call upon my samson 'big-un' pg2200 to light up the Mal-X:bigsmile: I was looking into some used rocket mains for a bit more money, but I think they will be sold, so I'm still considering the svs along with diy builds-we'll see...


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## Jon Liu (May 21, 2007)

I can think of many full range speakers, but two things to consider, my definition of full range may differ than others - 20Hz equals full range and also price is over $2000 for pretty much all of them.

Also, the best route you can go for bang-for-the-buck is DIY. If you want great speakers and don't mind putting in a little work, then DIY is a fantastic alternative. Even if you don't have woodworking skills you can have some one make the cabinets for you and then you buy the components and install it all yourself. Pretty simple and will likely get you closer to your budget.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

ironglen said:


> Thanks Tony. Do you run your mains with your samson @220w/ch? I like my RnR music turned up to fill the whole house while I'm doing housework/chores,etc.


Yes, my mains are run off the Samson, For me just giving them some extra juice helped and really keeps my Onkyo 805 much cooler.


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## olddog (Dec 21, 2008)

A while back I was looking for some new speakers and I auditioned quite a few. One that stands out that did not need a sub was the Salk Song Towers. They have a beautiful sleek cabinet and if my memory serves me were around 1500.00, but sounded as good as most 2 to 2.5k sets I listened to and had a fantastic bass , tight, quick and clean.

Here is Dennis Murphy’s ( a consummate crossover artist) description of the design...
"The SongTower QWT is an MTM design using a mass-loaded quarter wave transmission line cabinet designed by Paul Kittinger and based on the pioneering work of Martin King. This transmission line cabinet allows the floor-standing speaker to exhibit greater bass extension than a ported design would normally allow. 

This design is the end result of a year-long project to develop a very affordable (under $2000) speaker that 
- 1) is wide range, with useful bass response to at least 40 Hz; 
- 2) has a small enough footprint to allow cabinet dimensions with high SAF; and, 
- 3) is sensitive enough to be compatible with a wide range of amplifiers. 

Traditional 3-ways would almost certainly fail at least one of the last two requirements. Traditional 2-way bookshelf designs would require a large woofer that might not produce the best possible performance in the upper midrange, and would also require stand-mounting (low SAF). 

The solution was to use two high quality 5" drivers optimally suited to Martin King's MLQW transmission line cabinet design, mated to a high quality tweeter. The Seas CA15 woofers were an obvious choice to perform bass duties, due to their appropriate electrical and mechanical parameters and extremely smooth and extended response at higher frequencies. The Hiquphon 0WII was perfectly suited for the design, since it is sensitive enough to keep up with twin CA15 woofers and provides almost ruler-flat response and extremely broad dispersion. In addition, this tweeter is rugged enough to allow a fairly low crossover frequency with room to spare. 

The sensitivity of the MTM is conservatively rated at 88 dB, and can play a 38 Hz tone at high enough drive levels to set off rattles from loose objects in a typical room."

I also was impressed with some Vanderstien 2sige’s and almost bought them but I have a house full of little pokey fingers. They also need a lot of amp. Price is right there with your budget tho.
Hope this helps


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## Chicagorep (May 2, 2010)

I don't see much talk about Totem Acoustic on this site but I'd like to through in my 2 cents. The Totem Sttafs at $1600 are really nice full range speakers. If you can find a pair of used Totem Forests then you would some really great full range speakers.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Chicagorep said:


> I don't see much talk about Totem Acoustic on this site but I'd like to through in my 2 cents. The Totem Sttafs at $1600 are really nice full range speakers. If you can find a pair of used Totem Forests then you would some really great full range speakers.


I have never heard of Totem Acoustic ... time to google. :bigsmile:

Matt


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## JBL Fan (May 1, 2010)

_If you stay with JBL, the Studio L890 towers would do the trick. They've got dual 8" drivers and play down to 28 htz, and they play loud. The highs and midrange are very clean, mid-bass full. 
While I was veneering my subs and mains 3 years ago I used the L890s w/o sub in a 3200 cuft room. With a 220w amp those things were very impressive._


Geez, I wonder who I agree with 

The studio L series are great speakers for the price point IHO. I'll take a pair over most of the B&W line or Focal (JM Lab) or many of the others I've dealt with in the past. I've met all the engineers at the factory in Northridge Cal. and we had a long training session with none other than Dr. Toole. Very impressive group....


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Chicagorep said:


> I don't see much talk about Totem Acoustic on this site but I'd like to through in my 2 cents. The Totem Sttafs at $1600 are really nice full range speakers. If you can find a pair of used Totem Forests then you would some really great full range speakers.


What we need is Totem to start advertising with us and put some buzz out there to our members on their speakers. I don't hear much about them myself on forums much, but we can certainly change that if you got some connections. Maybe we could give away a pair of Totems. :whistling:


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## Chicagorep (May 2, 2010)

I don't think I can arrange for a give away but I can ask about advertising here. A quick Google search will turn up the dozens of reviews done on their products. If anyone is in the Chicago area I have several models I can demo.
Totem is a great little company out of Montreal. They do their own manufacturing, no China .


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Totem makes very good sounding speakers I had the privilege some time ago of listening to some that were on demo at a local audio boutique store here in Edmonton.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
I am actually quite familiar with Totem and have spent a decent amount of time listening to the Arro and Forest a few years back. Always like a quality Soft Dome Tweeter based Speaker.
Cheers,
JJ


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## Chicagorep (May 2, 2010)

Jungle Jack said:


> Hello,
> I am actually quite familiar with Totem and have spent a decent amount of time listening to the Arro and Forest a few years back. Always like a quality Soft Dome Tweeter based Speaker.
> Cheers,
> JJ


I like the soft dome tweeters, I call it that Canadian sound


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
Indeed. Once upon a time both Paradigm and PSB both used Soft Dome Tweeters as well. In truth, I associate Denmark as ground zero for Soft Dome Tweeters with Dynaudio's stellar Esotec Tweeters.

I really liked the Arro and Forest, but would definitely recommend them for those who value Music more than HT. Thankfully, there are still some of us out there.
Cheers,
JJ


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## Chicagorep (May 2, 2010)

Actually the Forests work quite well in a home theater, you just need to add a sub and set your AVR low pass at 55 htz.


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## Lucky7! (Jan 7, 2008)

Jungle Jack said:


> In truth, I associate Denmark as ground zero for Soft Dome Tweeters


I would have said the UK myself, but for a long time it was neck and neck for the companies in those two countries in producing the very best hifi drivers. Not so much any more though.


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