They have a lot of options and their prices are quite good compared to competitors. I almost bought some of those panels to put behind my speakers. I might still do that…
1 Like
Currently looking for new speakers, figured I might as well explore what’s out there more, not tired of the Harbeths but I think something more unique and a higher step up in a different direction is the right moves. I’ve just been listening to my Raidho a lot more, and honestly those speakers are higher tier than the Harbeth are (although they don’t match well with my AC gear). I’ve been looking to make the move to the new Borresen’s, but they just won’t work well with the source gear I have (they do have amazing synergy with CH Precision gear though, so that would give me an excuse to move to an all CH setup in the living room, but I don’t really know if I want to commit to that), so that’s likely not going to happen.
Currently I’ve figured if I want to keep my AC chain but upgrade speaker wise, from what I’ve heard at shows at some point, I’ve narrowed it down to:
Verity Lohengrin IIS or Sarasro IIS
Goebel Divin Marquis
Marten Mingus Twenty
Cube Nenuphar Basis
But that’s all I can think of that I liked that would also match well with my AC from what I’ve been told. Really not that experienced with speaker stuff at this level so somewhat lost. Can’t really do home demos for stuff like this either. The Verity and Goebel are currently the most accessible and looking like the best option for the prices I could get some at, but there’s too many options out there to just blindly go with one of them without second thought lol
I want to avoid horn speakers in this case since while I really enjoy them they aren’t going to be great for my room, and are more specialist and not that great of an all rounder. Don’t really like to live with all planar or panel speakers, not an estat fan either. Generally looking for more high efficiency than not, standmount or tower I don’t really care, single driver I would be ok with but that’s also potentially a stretch to use an all rounder. Would prefer to not get into the hassle of custom or one off speakers either.
Any ideas lol? Have a budget of up to 100k (although I’d prefer less than 70), priorities are basically all in the time domain so things like spatial recreation, timbre, low level nuance, microdynamics, etc, have subs so they don’t need to be true full range, ideally should work well with AC gear, but can adjust cabling accordingly if needed (currently running nordost for analog, shunyata for power, and transparent for digital). Room size is like 20x24 with 9ft ceilings (I think) so enough size to accommodate most average speakers but nothing too massive, already have plenty of mostly diffusion and traps and some absorption, treated ceilings (not safely though lol), thicker carpeted floor, took care of windows.
9 Likes
While I have no advice to give (and suspect few on here do lol) unfortunately, I am looking forward to hearing about what you end up with. That’s a huge budget. Exciting purchase.
4 Likes
I was thinking of pushing past that, but at that point I’d want to build out a separate room or building from scratch, which I was going to do, but that’s not happening anymore lol and I don’t know if I should take that step yet so for now just something that’s pushing borderline manageable to do. While changing up everything sounds cool, that’s likely more hassle than I’m willing to commit to at the moment
Also this will really force me to listen to speakers more, so want to make sure I’m not jumping the gun lol
5 Likes
Zero opinion or feedback on them, but just throwing ideas out…
How are Vienna Acoustics Mahlers?
1 Like
@M0N ….yesssss to everything, no matter which direction you decide to go, so many of us will be living vicariously through your wonderfully descriptive words and the images they conjure in our minds…
4 Likes
Mostly because of room issues or why? because i would assume you could just do some room treatment and focus on better placement etc no?
If you could just stretch your budget a bit, i really like the Zellaton Reference MKII for $150,000. Real great bass on that one and generally higher performing speaker than the ones you mentioned.
Get it? I pulled a Mon
5 Likes
Just not my cup of tea, the presentation is interesting, but it’s not very natural imo, the “wall of sound” approach just isn’t really for me, it’s trying to turn the room into the source, and that’s pretty jarring over time for me. I have loved some of the panel speakers I’ve heard, but not something I would want to live with myself. Also dynamically they typically tend to be more weak overall, not as impressive there, low level listening is typically more lackluster, and everything feels more diffused and not really convincing to me. Just to me too many tradeoffs that I don’t personally like. But it all depends on a speaker by speaker basis. It’s just that the large panel or line array speakers that I did enjoy and would have considered buying are far too large for the space I’d have them in, and most others just didn’t seem like something I’d want to live with
Yes they are room picky as well, not that big of an issue in my case, but it’s still something to consider, they love to be in the middle of the room, and also are very sensitive to anything around them
I actually really enjoyed that speaker when I heard it, the problem is that I would need to really up my source gear at that point and I didn’t really want to change off what I have. I could make it work, but I’d need to invest much more than just the speakers to get that going. But it’s absolutely a speaker I would own after hearing a demo. I will say though, in the room that they were demoed in, they sounded reasonably dynamically gimped with dampened attack and overly quick decay, so that would give me pause, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that’s just the room
1 Like
wow very interesting! actually sounds kinda interesting but fair enough. wall of sound eh 
gotcha gotcha, right u don’t wanna do like a crazy everything is changing type of thing but instead just kind of go based off the source gear you already have. That’s totally reasonable. The Goebel Divin Marquis looks really serious btw.
Honestly I guess if you have the budget, the room and the source to work with the 4 speakers you mentioned and if they are all realistically good enough in the sonic characteristics that you are looking for you want to really find one that just speaks to you. Cube Nenuphar Basis im sure is great but yeah idk how i feel about it being one driver specially since it’s gonna be your main speaker system.
Any reserves you have about the other 3? Things that make you unsure about the Verity, goebel and marten speakers?
1 Like
Is it realistically possible to find any of the non-horn AC stuff? Assume they’d build to match well to their own source gear.
1 Like
It is pretty interesting. A great way to experience something like that is to try a pair of maggie LRS, awesome speakers for the money, but very source picky so their price is misleading lol, very demanding, but they will give you a taste of that dipole wall of sound I’m talking about. It’s a really cool and engaging experience, but it’s also one that never gave me the “I am there” sense. It’s a very different sound, and it’s very hit or miss depending on the person if they like it or not
That’s really what I was thinking for sure, it also seems like a technical step below the others from memory as well (but potentially better value)
So some pros and cons about all three from memory:
Verity pros:
Amount of range in stage is crazy, they can get eerily intimate when called on (which actually freaked me out during a demo) or sound quite massive, very flexible and will meld to the music, all while being very accurate and organic too, big selling point
The amount of low level information it resolves and how well it presents it is awesome, also big selling point
Great overall treble extension and clarity without sounding unnatrual
Dynamically very impressive in micro and fairly satisfactory in macro
Actually pretty cheap used, excellent value
Cons:
Coherency is good, but not ideal for the price point, you sorta focus more on each individual aspects and it’s harder to take things as a whole, but really this didn’t bother me enough to be a dealbreaker, not a good casual listen speaker, it hits you with everything and you better like it lol
Somewhat more picky on source and placement, but hopefully that should be fine
Goebel pros:
Fairly neutral and refined signature, very reference sounding, but still organic while pulling that off
Incredibly well rounded with most all music that was put though it, it treated things very equally, same with source gear as well
It excels at everything and fails at nothing, but not outstanding in one specific way
Very easy to set up and make sound good in most rooms
Very safe pick, guaranteed awesome (at least more than the other options)
Cons:
I wonder if it would get boring overtime, I don’t think it would, but it’s something that sticks in my head and gives me pause
Value isn’t as strong, not as cheap used
Marten pros:
Sweeter and more romantic sounding without offsetting balance at all
More relaxed and more suitable for casual listening than the other 2
Very organic presentation overall
Apparently great synergy with my system
Cons:
Have less experience with this one vs the other 2, less listening time
More specialized than the above 2 imo
Might be a less capable than the above 2
I don’t like the word mingus
So it’s really a fight between the first 2 at this point
3 Likes
Their nicer ones are mostly all horn, and the only one that isn’t looks hideous imo. Also they will be more hassle to get my hands on
1 Like
Kinda figured that’d be the case
1 Like
You probably hate this album.
3 Likes
I do actually like Mingus a fair bit (when I actually feel like listening to that sort of music), but I’ve not actually listened to that album lol, only Mingus at Antibes, Let My Children Hear Music, Ah Um, and The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
1 Like
Yeah man, i know source gear would cost alot but ngl i think i might legit look into that in the future.
honestly, feel like based on your pros and cons that the Verity might be the way to go, main reason i say that is because you had stated before that presentation, staging and that type of stuff is your main interest. Where even if it’s not as cohesive as it could be it probably dosen’t have to be ya know? It’s just not as cohesive in comparison, while the Goebel is reference and probably won’t be as interesting in the long run or at least dosen’t nseem to be like the tpe of thing that you are looking for at the moment. I’m sure it wouldn’t get boring per se but probably less engaging to you if the staging isn’t as special. Marten that one, only thing that seems interesting in your situation is that it may have great synergy with your system. But Mingus is a pretty shit word and also realistically if you like the Verity more you might actaully end up looking either way for other source that might have better synergy anyways lol.
At least from my perspective on what you said it kind of seems like the obvious choice between those. Would be interesting to see if there are other things worth looking at in that price range.
1 Like
That’s honestly what I was thinking as well after typing everything out
The goebel does have one massive advantage over the verity that I didn’t mention actually, the bass and bass texture is a fair bit better done than on the verity. But yes it’s a less immediately appealing speaker
Lol glad I’m not alone in thinking that. I think having a speaker named mingus would push me over the edge, already continually irritated from when someone pointed out that the aries cerat logo looks like the female reproductive system and can’t unsee that, I think that + owning a speaker called mingus is just too much
Yeah you are right. I don’t understand how I was entirely stuck on what to do for like a week, and then I just post here and I somehow come to a decision within a few hours after that lol
Well it will all depend on what prices I can get. I already have a price for the Lohengrin IIS, I just want to see what I can get a Marquis for before I commit
1 Like
Shame on you!
Hey out of curiosity have you tried the Total DAC squad in your living room? Wonder how it would compare to the Kassandra.
Also, I know you’re itching to throw 70 to 100K at something lol, but man I’d have to think that for 1/3 the cost you could build a purpose room from the floor on up that would just showcase your gear to the hilt.
1 Like
Since I don’t know much, question. Bass texture, something like that is it possible to improve it with a sub out of curiosity?
I’ve binged 10 seasons now of futurama in the last 2 week i swear i think i heard the word “mingus” used to call someone dumbass lol. Yeah and how can u show off ur awesome high end speaker and then read out that name, not a good luck lol. Although to be honest at least the logo you mentioned on the other one is more like just part of nature :theface:
niceeee, It’s crazy how alot of the times you need to either say something out loud or write it down and it really helps making a decision
fair fair enough, i guess even in ultra high end realms one would still take the price into consideration. Price is always the biggest leading factor for sure lol