Speaker Decisions

I am window shopping for new speakers now. I am highly interested in the Vandersteen 1ci or maybe the 2 series later on. I don't have much room for them in my current small listening room. I currently have Rega R1's that I purchased about 7 years ago, which are on sand filled stands. I have a basic Polk sub connected and it sounds decent, but I could do better. The Regas are great on certain types of music and pressings, but not an all around speaker for me.

I plan on moving to a bigger house in a few years, but at the moment, I don't have the space for the Vandersteens or anything bigger. I am considering buying a cheaper budget floorstander (items that I have seen on audioadvisor.com or music direct) in the meantime to get rid of the bookshelf Regas - kind of like a temporary upgrade. My long term budget for a more permanent speaker is anywhere from $1200-2500, but if I were to buy a temporary budget floorstander, I wouldn't want to spend any more than $800.

Is this a bad move, or should I just live with the Regas for now?

 

Also, my other equipment is a VPI Scout and a Rogue Audio Sphinx amp. Thanks!

 

What do you think you are missing?
I recently picked up a pair of Totem Rainmakers. they are replacing Vandersteen 2ci's ( moving to a smaller place). Very happy with them. look for them used around $700 ish.

 

Just me, but the idea of 'temporary' changes seems counterproductive.

Save the money and buy into a more significant step up when you are in your new house.

 

Are you looking at new, used, or either?

 

On some records, the speaker combo sounds amazing - especially clean jazz or funk. However, on others, the clarity and detail just doesn't sound excellent. Any Rega r1 or rs1 owners that could chime in?

I am looking at new and used, but to take others advice, I may just wait for a bigger/more final purchase down the road.

 

It's my humble opinion that folk make a mistake in trying to find a speaker that sounds great on all types of recordings; I think (having owned R1's and RS1's) that your speakers are merely telling you the truth about what you are listening to. Speakers that make all music/recordings tolerable are also likely to lose your interest over time. I'm not saying you shouldn't cast about for different speakers; what I am saying is, you want speakers (and equipment generally) that differentiates between recordings - the more, the better. That way you're getting what's uniquely good (or bad) about the music you are playing, and you end up (ultimately) being more involved with the music.

 

So, do the R1s vary according to musical genre or just from recording to recording?

 

Regarding Rega, I don't have the R1 or RS1 but I do have RS3 and have found them very satisfactory when paired with the Brio R. I listen to a fairly broad range of music and the RS3 takes little or no more space than stand mounted RS1. Looking forward to learning more about Rega's new RX series.

 

if you're moving into a bigger house, what if you got a better pair of monitors you could use now and then put into a second room when you move?

 

I've never been in love with the Rega R1's. They are not terrible, however. What are others opinions of the R1's? I don't want to make any lateral moves, and I dont want to spend more money over time. I don't mind upgrading and spending the money, but I hate making poor quick decisions, and then upgrading to a larger scale down the road.

Are there ways to live with R1's in the meantime? Possibly improve there sound?

 

What don't you like about them?

In my experience, what people like about Rega speakers (and I am generalizing madly here) is their quickness and liveliness; a.k.a. Boogie Factor, or PRaT. Some might see their sound as being slightly lean compared to "richer" sounding marques like Harbeth, Spendor etc.