Topic: Buying a new speaker. Replacement for PSB Image B6

[chicosci]

Hi,

I will be replacing my psb image b6 speakers. Will be giving it to a family member. I have a yamaha rx-v473 receiver. I also have a polk audio ps 10w sub. I mostly use my setup to listen to music (vinyl using rega rp1, flac, and spotify(extreme quality).

What would be a good replacement speaker within the 18-25k budget? I was reading some reviews and the monitor audio bronze 2 was one of the models that comes out on the top. Would you recommend this as a good pair for my receiver? What options would you recommend? Also will it be an upgrade? I want to hopefully have a bit upgraded sound quality given that i will be purchasing a new speaker.

I listen to a variety of music such as beatles, jazz, female voices, alternative, a little bit edm. Basically my main focus would be clarity and detail.

Thank you in advance.


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[Courage]

Try to audition Elac B6 and Dali Zensor 3

[sgxp]

Buy another Image B6, hehe.  I don't like MA speakers, maniwala ka naman jan sa wathifi reviews.

[synchro_01]

For the money, present gear and the intended result then the Elac is a safe bet but if its just me then I will get that NOS Dyn A42 in the marketplace at an additional price.  Owned both and I can say that the B6 even with 10 years advantage in design and engineering it still cannot deliver what an A42 can.

The bad part is that you will discover that your AVR may be not enough hence another upgrade is in the works.

This is why wives hate this hobby. Anyway good luck in your "good" problem.

[luis]

if you can provide info sir?
room size
type of music
BUDGET

 

[chicosci]

For the money, present gear and the intended result then the Elac is a safe bet but if its just me then I will get that NOS Dyn A42 in the marketplace at an additional price.  Owned both and I can say that the B6 even with 10 years advantage in design and engineering it still cannot deliver what an A42 can.

The bad part is that you will discover that your AVR may be not enough hence another upgrade is in the works.

This is why wives hate this hobby. Anyway good luck in your "good" problem.

Hahaha ok will look into this model.


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[chicosci]

if you can provide info sir?
room size
type of music
BUDGET

 

Hi sir

Room size around 20 square meters
Type of music. Acoustic, classic rock, jazz. Female voices.
Budget around 20k


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[chicosci]

I recently saw a discount for b&w 685 s2.    Would stretching my budget for this model be a good upgrade?


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[ndotcom]

There is an MA B2 and center combo in the MP if okay sayo used items, at least magamit pa sa HT yung buong setup.

Pero I think you are already on the brink of going to pure stereo setup so better to be on a clean slate and get rid of the AVR na rin and possibly the sub. Then go hunt for the speakers and amplifier combo that would suit your listening pleasures.

Try mo yung rega brio with the elac speaker setup, ask the Reag guys what was their setup sa last hi-fi show total naka rega TT ka naman na.

[sgxp]

b&W is meh... meron nagbebenta ng used Focal Aria dito... try mo din Revel M16 sa egghead

[luis]

With 25k budget:

Wharfedale denton bnew
Dali zensor 3 bnew
Monitor audio rx2 preowned
Monitor audio bronze 2 bnew
B&w 685 s2 preowned
Elec b6 bnew
Kef q300 bnew

My top of mind reco not in order of preference for bookshelf.

 

[shoktongxxx]

Try to audition Elac B6 and Dali Zensor 3

+1 audition ka muna bago bili.

[markcrenz]

... main focus would be clarity and detail...

I think this would be very difficult to achieve given your entry-level AVR.

[puffalan84]

B6 is already good.. hard to top that..

[zram18]

from psb b6 to ma bronze 2...thats not upgrade for me. natest mo na ba? pwede pa tawagin "same" grade but definitely not upgrade.

[nekra]

+1 monitor bronze 2 not an upgrade
There's a goldenear triton 7 in marketplace thats selling for 40k and willing to accept installment with 25k down, why not stretch your budget, you wont be sorry for what your getting!

[chicosci]

Hi all,

Bought an ELAC B6 yesterday after auditioning and comparing to other models. I compared it to the ELAC Unifi and the ELAC F5. So far i am happy with the sound sig. My next target is to buy an amp that i will dedicate to music. I realized that i seldom use my HT anyway haha. The benefit that i get right now with my current AVR is the airplay functionality that i use to play Spotify premium (Extreme quality songs). Out of topic but is there a good amp that support functions such as airplay and network drive flac access?

Another thing, what speaker stand do you recommend?

Thank you all for the suggestions.

[Courage]

Hi all,

Bought an ELAC B6 yesterday after auditioning and comparing to other models. I compared it to the ELAC Unifi and the ELAC F5. So far i am happy with the sound sig. My next target is to buy an amp that i will dedicate to music. I realized that i seldom use my HT anyway haha. The benefit that i get right now with my current AVR is the airplay functionality that i use to play Spotify premium (Extreme quality songs). Out of topic but is there a good amp that support functions such as airplay and network drive flac access?

Another thing, what speaker stand do you recommend?

Thank you all for the suggestions.

There are stereo receivers from Marantz, Onkyo, Yamaha and others that support Airplay, BT and Network streaming functions

[synchro_01]

Congratulations on your purchase. Enjoy the B6. Bang for the buck that is very hard to beat.

[chicosci]

There are stereo receivers from Marantz, Onkyo, Yamaha and others that support Airplay, BT and Network streaming functions

Thanks sir. Do have a specific models that you can recommend? Just to start with my research and auditioning


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[sientobente]

Thanks sir. Do have a specific models that you can recommend? Just to start with my research and auditioning


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I recommend BT dongles from Focal or QED as an alternative. In my experience airplay/casting/streaming can have lag. We know lag can cause jitter and that's not good for SQ.

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[Conan]

Thanks sir. Do have a specific models that you can recommend? Just to start with my research and auditioning


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Cambridge CXA60. It has a Bluetooth slot ready for the Cambridge BT-100 which costs a little over 4 thousand.

[alvinbaronsia]

Hi all,

Bought an ELAC B6 yesterday after auditioning and comparing to other models. I compared it to the ELAC Unifi and the ELAC F5. So far i am happy with the sound sig. My next target is to buy an amp that i will dedicate to music. I realized that i seldom use my HT anyway haha. The benefit that i get right now with my current AVR is the airplay functionality that i use to play Spotify premium (Extreme quality songs). Out of topic but is there a good amp that support functions such as airplay and network drive flac access?

Another thing, what speaker stand do you recommend?

Thank you all for the suggestions.

Try NAD C338. I find that Elac B6 perform better with Class D amps. Typical Class AB amps will just highlight the distance between the highs and the lows; the natural treble distortion of Class D amps makes the sound more natural and balanced; for me at least. If you do choose an AB amp, go for warmer sounding ones; or use a tube amp.

For speakers stands, I usually get from turbokiller.

I recommend BT dongles from Focal or QED as an alternative. In my experience airplay/casting/streaming can have lag. We know lag can cause jitter and that's not good for SQ.

What streamer did you use that had a lot of jitters?

[Conan]

Try NAD C338. I find that Elac B6 perform better with Class D amps. Typical Class AB amps will just highlight the distance between the highs and the lows; the natural treble distortion of Class D amps makes the sound more natural and balanced; for me at least. If you do choose an AB amp, go for warmer sounding ones; or use a tube amp.

For speakers stands, I usually get from turbokiller.


What streamer did you use that had a lot of jitters?

My Elac B6 also sounds better with a Class D amplifier. It sounds really good paired with a Brik integrated amp which cost less than 10 thousand Pesos.

https://www.lazada.com.ph/brik-integrated-amplifier-11642236.html?spm=a2o4l.searchlist.list.2.65f6a8a0ZgbmIf

http://www.brik-audio.com/s/2/product-342379/Integrated-Amplifier.html

However my experience with NAD Class D amps is not good. I did a home audition with a NAD C368 and the Brik amp sounded so much better. The Brik amp is only 20 watts per channel compared to the NAD which is 80 watts per channel. The NAD amp sounds "manipis" to make things simpler to understand.

I've heard other people have similar comments about the compact NAD D3020 amp.

[alvinbaronsia]

I haven't heard the Brik. That said, i dont think it has spotify or upnp, like the c338. The other class d i can think of with those features is the peachtee deco sky but I'm not sure if it's locally available. If the TS is willing, he can get a chromecast audio or bose wireless link adapter as a streamer to the brik.

[sientobente]

What streamer did you use that had a lot of jitters?

Chromecast, Roku and Denon's X2100. Jitter is not something we can easily quantify, but the latency from our home network, even if no one else is using it, gets bad. It will ruin your listening.

[alvinbaronsia]

Chromecast, Roku and Denon's X2100. Jitter is not something we can easily quantify, but the latency from our home network, even if no one else is using it, gets bad. It will ruin your listening.

Ah that's too bad. I've used chromecast audio, Ipads as Roon endpoints, my marantz avr, laptops, all via wireless and all sound good either with flacs streamed from a NAS or spotify. That said, I don't see how using a bluetooth receiver reduces jitter; it's still wireless and actually has less much less bandwidth than wifi.

Maybe you are referring to internet stability/bandwidth interruptions instead of jitter? Like you are listening to your song and it skips or stutters, that is an internet issue. Jitter only occurs during the DAC process. Now if you are talking about out of key or a song not sounding normal, then yes that is jitter.

https://headfonics.com/2017/12/what-is-jitter-in-audio/

[sientobente]

Ah that's too bad. I've used chromecast audio, Ipads as Roon endpoints, my marantz avr, laptops, all via wireless and all sound good either with flacs streamed from a NAS or spotify. That said, I don't see how using a bluetooth receiver reduces jitter; it's still wireless and actually has less much less bandwidth than wifi.

Maybe you are referring to internet stability/bandwidth interruptions instead of jitter? Like you are listening to your song and it skips or stutters, that is an internet issue. Jitter only occurs during the DAC process. Now if you are talking about out of key or a song not sounding normal, then yes that is jitter.

https://headfonics.com/2017/12/what-is-jitter-in-audio/

Yup, I am aware what jitter is.  I haven't gotten any good experience using Spotify streaming through our home network. All using those devices. Already have used both PLDT and Globe. Initially, I thought it was because of the high ping rate from PLDT. But switching to Globe, it has the same problem. More so, Globe even has stability problems in our area despite having that good ping rate.

The advantage I see in using those Bluetooth dongles, are 1. Files are already downloaded, similar to your NAS setup. So it won't be ISP dependent., 2. AptX - this handles the buffer problems, by sending packets in advance for your device or DAC to process. The lag being caused by the home network, can add to the delay thus amplifying the negative effects of jitter.