Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Help me shop for 'new' speakers

OK. So for my father's day, I got a Panny 55VT30 plasma that I've been waiting forever to get. I wanted a Kuro but alas, couldn't find any NOS. Fortunately, my company gets a Panasonic Employee Purchase Program discount so I got it for 25% of MSRP. Waiting for a delivery date.

Now this means I can move my Panny 6UY (480p) to the bedroom, where I know have to 'create' a system. I'm moving my Pio 45TX there to go w/ the Roku and Tivo S3. Now I need some speakers.

1) I can put my Von Schweikert VR1's there and get some new speakers for the stereo tube system, but they have to be efficient for the 25W tube amps.

2) I can move my M22s from the man cave and then I can upgrade to Axiom towers. The man cave doesn't 'need' towers, the space is relatively small and what I've got works.

I prefer variety so it might be nice to just get some new speakers (used OK) to have in the house.

Ones I've liked or lusted after
Monitor Audio GR10's
Sonus Faber Cremona
Wharfdale Evo 20 and above

Suggestions?

Cesar, I have the Monitor Audio GR10s and thought they matched very well with tubes. Very detailed tweeter, but I felt it was a little dry. When I hooked it up to a 35W integrated tube amp the sound became much more enjoyable to my ears. A touch more warmth made them more friendly.

Placement can be tricky with them as I found the bass to be a little undefined. Foam plugs can be put in the ports to tune the sound, but the frequency response does get diminished. Still, for a bookshelf speaker they do a great job of recreating the low end.

Yeah, I listened to the GR10's years ago before the Axioms and LOVED them. Come to think of it, they may have been powered my some McIntosh's. To me, the detail was outstanding. Still love 'em and would love to add them to the stable. I watch Audiogon all the time and only saw them once but couldn't justify them because there was no place to use them. Now they're no where to be seen...

I see the newer GS10s come up, but never listened to them and don't know how they compare.

EVO 40's on sale at MusicDirect.com for 999.

Yup, hence why I put them on my list. I liked their sound when I started looking Axioms and got the mailer from Music Direct last week.

I'm leaning to a sub-$1K price on NIB GS10. The price is too good to pass up.

That sounds like a pretty good deal.

What color are they?

Are those the ones on Audiogon?

Yup, piano black. Are you gonna esnipe me?

No but Mark will.

I only do that to Adrian as part of my "Make Adrian's Life a Living Hell" campaign.

Ha ha, well the guy IS in Scottsdale. . . .


No, Cesar, I won't do that to you. I was just being curious. And nosy.

How much do I have to contribute to get the T-shirt, button and poster package?

No worries. I got it for his initial asking and he covered the shipping. Not a bad deal at all for NIB. Now I've got to find some stands...

And here I was trying to figure out what brand NIB was...

HA! That's NHT, I think.

BTW, any recs besides racksandstands.com for speaker stands? Looking for either aluminum or black metal to go w/ the piano black speakers.

Check out standsandmounts.com. Manufacturers include Bello, VTI, and Lovan.

GS10s have arrived. GORGEOUS in piano black. Brand new.

Breaking them in w/ the tube amps right now. Will move them to the HT room for break in when the stands arrive.

These things sound bigger than my Von Schweikert VR1s.

Good news, Cesar!

I thought the GR10s paired really well with tubes.

How about some pics??

Speaker porn. Including the black tshirt rag/speaker stand.


P6214659 by oldskoolboarder, on Flickr


P6214660 by oldskoolboarder, on Flickr


P6214663 by oldskoolboarder, on Flickr


P6214661 by oldskoolboarder, on Flickr

Pretty, pretty!

Very pretty! Congrats.

It's lickable.

It certainly looks nice.

Do the little dimples in the speaker cone have a technical significance or are they just for looks. It's too big to drive with a one wood so I'm assuming they are not for distance.

Can I rub it?

Monitor Audio claims the dimples make the driver material more rigid and also helps displace standing waves.

Those look very nice, Cesar! Congrats on the speaker purchase. Glad you got something you enjoy.

Can I rub up against it?

Those are some beautiful speakers, congrats. Some speaker manufacturers use dimples, triangles or ribs stamped into the cone material to help stiffen the speaker and/or reduce standing waves. Perhaps the most notable are made by Scanspeak using ribs on some of their(excellent) drivers.

We are all jealous! Great looking speakers.

I think the dimples help the speaker from slicing to the right on my tee shot...

Thanks. Happy so far. I do have to admit, having them sit next to the new Panasonic VT30 (even on the floor) makes me wonder what a full, 5.1, piano black system would look like in my man cave...

Very nice, 5.1 would be even better, when does this happen?

Ha, not for a while. It's funny because I was doing a mental inventory and realized I have 4 distinct systems w/ in 20' of each other.

On one side of the house where we have the man cave, master bedroom and living there exists:

- Man cave system w/ Axiom M22's, VP150, QS8s, and Hsu VTF2 sub.
- Bedroom system with Von Schweikert VR1s
- Living room stereo tubed system w/ Monitor Audio GS10's.

In kitchen/great room area where we have the family desk/office, we have some Audiobytes.

Yeah, time to slow down a bit...

Those are beautiful! I look forward to reading your detailed review. I'd love to hear them some day.

They sure do look purdy...I love that piano gloss finish...AAMOF I just received my Sierra NrT in HGB for fathers day. I'm in the process of setting up a 2ch rig myself.

Ugh, I'm moving speaker stands around and my VR1's are stuck to the stand. I have bluetak on there and can't get the speaker off.

I've left the speaker dangling off the stand on it's side, resting on the couch, hoping gravity will take affect overnight. If not, I'll try to leave it by the window and let the sun heat up the tak. Dangit.