Well after much chopping and changing about of cables,speaker position,furniture i just cannot soften the sound of my Epos M5 so im going to look elsewhere.The highs and sibilance are just too much for me,need something a lot smoother. After spending much of yesterday trawling the internet and today ringing around various hi-fi shops the Quad 12L(pre-owned) and Audience 42(ex display)come within my budget,both the same price and a good one at that. Most of my music is rock say 60% and the rest is a mixture of all sorts,dance,bit of jazz some classical etc so i need something thats a good all rounder smooth,non fatiguing especially in the highs with a bit of punch. I would really appreciate anyones views,owners,people that have demoed them etc.Each shop is a 3 hour drive in the opposite direction so im gonna have to take a day off for each to audition.Amp is only a NAD C352 ,will be upgrading at the end of Oct. Many thanks.
You really need to hear them for yourself to decide. They're pretty different from each other. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but most people will like one a good amount over the other.
The 352 should be able to drive them more than sufficiently, but a better amp will definitely be better.
What is your source, or what are you planning to use? This can make a very big difference.
Source is a NAD C524, i have no problems with this,personally i enjoy it very much. Cables if it matters are Van den hul ICs and some DNM speaker cable. I know hearing them myself is essential but i would also like opinions on them. Have you had experience with either and their presentation.
Patrick, your upgrade will make a bunch of diffrence in the speaker presentation, especially if you are going to something other than NAD(I presume not). It might be a little cart-before-the-horse to choose speakers right now. Unless you are trying out everything in the same room on the same day.
Well im just back from a 9 hour round drive,im wrecked but it was well worth it. It was very easy in the end to make my decision,the Dynaudio 42 are without doubt the ones for me. The Quad 12ls were far too polite for me and loose in the base,a nice speaker but when i played rock music it couldn't deal with it at all.A nice speaker for mellow stuff but for me it had no slam or excitement.Heard through a NAD C352,Arcam Solo and some Primare (can't remember the model) Got to hear some B&W 685s too with the same amps as above.Tighter bass than the Quads,better midrange but i found the highs to have the exact similarities with my Epos M5s so i had to cancel them out straight away. Heard some completley out of my price range B&W floorstandards....... They were sweet but a dream Finally i had to drive another 3 hours to get to audition the Audience 42s and boy was it worth it.I knew after listening to one song i was set.Everything is perfect for me Bass is amazing for the size of the speaker but positioning is critical so as not to cause boom,no worries there as my room has plenty of play.The midrange again was ace,i think the Epos might just shade it but it was hard to tell not having them side by side.Then the most important the highs, absolutely perfect, i certainly was not expecting what i heard.They were clear,present but unlike the Epos were nowhere fatiguing or sibilant.The overall experience of this speaker is that it does everything well,if you want it to rock,thump,relax or chill it has no problems in dealing whats thrown at it. Best thing about all this is this was only through a NADC352 so im well chuffed,no difficulty with driving them either, i can only imagine what a better quality Amp could do.Only had a pair of ex demo in stock in Maple so i will be ordering a pair next week in a different color,getting a good deal too Thanks all for you opinions,I am off to bed.