HD800s have ruined me for speakers. I just can't do their soundstage anymore. Listened to a WTL Amadeus -> Leben 300 -> Harbeth 5 setup for like 4 hours Saturday night and only on one track out of all of those did the soundstage somehow materialize into something as good or better than the HD800. The other tracks were just bad.

Since I feel I'm pretty much done in headphone land with picking up the GS-X and X-Sabre lately, I might look at those kit speakers for a fun project.

Well, to be fair, those Harbeths suck. 


The stage the speakers throw also depends on how they're set up, and even dealers have trouble with this at meets/shows so I wouldn't trust a new owner to really know how to maximize their potential in an unfamiliar environment. 

It is also not suggested to take anything your dealer says as gospel. Just because a setup is the best the dealer has doesn't mean its good. 

Well..  headphones are miniaturized speakers are they not? And the only advantage they have is that you're almost always dead centre..  at the right spot.

I'm using some really old AudioPro floorstanders to a modest NAD amp.

Sounds better than most headphones I've heard...   It's just..  speakers are too damn loud, I'm not comfortable with my neighbors listening to my Pr0n

I need to make it out to one of these shows one day to listen to some nice speaker setups. I grew up listening to music primarily on headphones (other than the car on the long commute to school, but it's hard to fully immerse yourself in music while explaining to your mom why Wu-Tang can be considered poetry), so headphones sound more natural to me. I even prefer the enveloping experience of cheap headphones (like the Sony V6 that I listened to for a decade) than going to live concerts, in terms of purely digesting music.

I once went with my co-worker to the local hi-fi shop when he was shopping for speakers, and listened to a few setups (some Martin Logan electrostats up to some 100K/pair rig). Pretty impressive sounding, but I'd prefer the presentation of my headphones on most nights probably. Then again, really hard to say unless I live with a set of great speakers for a while.

Not saying one is better than the other, but I can see where Maxvla's coming from in saying he prefers the presentation of headphones.

Quote from: Maxvla on March 06, 2013, 01:48:37 AM

HD800s have ruined me for speakers. I just can't do their soundstage anymore. Listened to a WTL Amadeus -> Leben 300 -> Harbeth 5 setup for like 4 hours S

Well, to be fair, those Harbeths suck. 

The stage the speakers throw also depends on how they're set up, and even dealers have trouble with this at meets/shows so I wouldn't trust a new owner to really know how to maximize their potential in an unfamiliar environment.

That setup is "kind of like OK" -> "the suck" -> "the suck". BTW most speakers are the suck. Many of them are compromised too much for the wife acceptance factor. Setting up speakers requires serious compromises. For example, have you guys noticed how far off the back wall my Bk-16s are placed. Also, the left boundary for the left speaker requires me to dial in -1db on the left channel for proper center imaging. I'm also playing around with the internal stuffing - so far not yet to my satisfaction. I will probably need to put a bass trap of some sort in left corner. There is actually a ottoman cushion along the left wall (not seen in picture). Lots of little stuff... I'll eventually be resorting to digital PEQ.

I'm looking forward to slapping my laptop on the coffee table and working from there with the band in a stage in front of me and the vocalist in the center, not enveloping around the universe around my head.

BTW, there is of course an immense value proposition for DIY speakers.