Schizoid Man wrote:
Lastly, for ~$1350 if you haggle a little, you can get a pair of
Tannoy Saturn 8 speakers. These are much better - clean and
realistic midrange and high-end, decent bass. A pair of Saturn 6
towers sounds nearly identical, and are about $1200(figure $1100
real price).


Just out of curiosity, do you work for Tannoy? :-)

No.

Heh.

I have listened to many speakers and the Saturns are a definite
notch above the typical consumer speakers. They bested the smaller
B&W towers and the Mirage FRx towers in a side-by-side comparison.

(had B&W, Mirage FRx, Tannoy MX, Tannoy Revolution, and Saturn
all in the same room - the entire line for each, all hooked up
to a completely ridiculous looking overkill switchbox. Not the
typical audio store pushbutton affair, but something lifted from
a studio - about two ft high worth of rack space. Decent enough
to be a meaningless factor at this perfromance level.

Listening:

Quite noticeable, in fact - huge difference in midrange clarity
and ability to resolve harmonics and interactions between voices
and insturments. I could easily pick out each instrument in
a recording of an orchestral piece in repeated listenings. The
Tannoy MX and Mirage FRx were not even close.

Oddly enough, the Tannoy MX and Mirage FRx were indistinguishable
in a blind test. Wierd - the towers sound virtually identical.

The B&W - well, it needed a real woofer and not a passive assembly.

THe Athena S3/P2 combo was the best sounding due to the 3-way
bookshelf on top, but was pushing $1700 or so for the set. Two
8-inch subs though - great full-range sound. The S3 bookshelf
speakers are a HUGE improvement over the other Energy/Mirage/Athena
bookshelf speakers.

My father chose the S8s because they were really close to the
Athenas but cost a few hundred less at the cost of the deep bass.
Since he listens to mostly folk and vocal music, it was a good choice.

Me? I don't know. Probably the Athenas, but I listen to organ
music and watch movies. I already have big speakers, though,
so I'm not in the market until I'm ready to buy some stats or
planars.