Advice on floorstanding speakers suited for metal music

I want to upgrade my current bookshelf speakers to floorstanding speakers.
I listen to metal music, mainly black/death and doom metal. I listen to music on vinyl and sometimes on CD.
I prefer a detailed, yet in-your-face live sound. I like to hear all instruments and I want a lively bass sound without it dominating everything.

I'm reading a lot of speaker reviews online, but I would like to narrow my search a bit.
So I'm hoping to get some advice as on which speakerbrands or types are excellent for metal music (or rock).
What are your experiences, what do you use yourself and what would you recommend me?
All advice is more than welcome!

- Budget: 1500-2000 € or 1700-2200 $
- Amp: Cambridge Audio CXA81
- Turntable with external pre-amp
- Room size: +/- 40 m²
- Room finish: Fully finished and isolated attic room, with full stone walls, ceramic floor tiles and a ceiling in wood

 

The one set of "normal" speakers that can handle that are Monitor Audio Silver 300s. I blasted those for quite a while at Upscale Audio-the entire Piece Of Mind album and then Motorhead's No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith. Most speakers turn into a hash of distortion but those just cranked. I will soon repeat this experiment with Focal 936.
- Klipsch Heritage might be suited for that stuff.
- DIY horn stuff (I made some for my college dorm room, 117 dB cranking Rush "Subdivisions" from a little NAD amp)
Due to physics, speakers for high bass SPL will be large. Large cabinets and big woofers are your friend.
- Hence maybe the Tekton stuff might be of interest.
- Big MTX towers, though the refinement might be there.

Bass, that is a function of cabinet and woofer size but the interaction with the ROOM can make huge peaks and dips. So subwoofers and room EQ software might make as much difference as the choice of speaker.

 

That’s a special case:

Cervin Wega fit the bill perfectly (badass speakers)

Old JBL with big woofers (but your amp is a bit small for them)

Hans Deutsch speakers (Germany), also under ATL brand (successor brand I think) - Bass Horns
It might be they need new surrounds, but that’s not a problem, you save money

Fostex with Horns (oh yes)

Seems to be a very good offer from Stuttgart/Germany, but too heavy to send
Pick them up ... if COVID allows
GROSSE FOSTEX HORNLAUTSPRECHER | eBay

Floor tiles sound very shrill, buy a carpet

 

Myself I am using vintage Tannoy, but that’s quite above the given budget
And I am listening a lot to 60s/70s Rock, bit different sound profile needed

If you want Tannoy for that ...
Little Gold Monitor
Little Red Monitor
Both around 2000 EUR per pair

plus a Dynaudio BM 18S Subwoofer (yes, that’s needed, your trousers will flutter)

or

Tannoy Legacy Arden - might blow you out of the room, I was speechless listening to Marillion,
the rest of the guys in the HiFi Studio were plain pissed. Play Fugazi, most speakers cannot
reproduce the bass fast and hard enough.

 

Keep the bookshelves, work on better positioning. Get a good musical subwoofer instead and either a Puffin phono preamp, or an equalizer, to adjust for the crappy sound of a lot of black/doom metal records.

 

The sound is not that crappy
Most speakers reproduce it crappy
Especially these modern tower speakers with their tiny woofers just can’t ...

 

Which is why you need a sub(s) .

 

I'm using KEF LS50s (not the new Meta version) and a JL D108 subwoofer with a DSPeaker 8033 assisting with subwoofer integration. I listen to ~50% metal, ~50% everything else.

I have a medium sized room and this combo sounds very nice. The sub provides enough bass slam to properly convey Electric Wizard but enough bass speed to also cover Carcass. And the LS50s are detailed with terrific staging, which is really important to me (especially with the slower doom stuff). I guess the sound signature I'm getting now is similar to a mixing studio - precise, clean, and extended. Not similar in QUALITY, mind you, just in character.

But, I've never had floor-standers since I've only ever had small listening rooms.

 

It’s not just the bass
It’s the character of the speaker
Metal need aggression but sweetness (the midrange is important, you won’t believe it)

 

Subwoofer(s) is a must for Metal....................

 

I know.
But a good sub will balance things out.

 

I’ve got the Silver 300s, and they sound great with metal that is mastered well. They might tend toward having more bass than what the OP is describing as a preference, but that can probably be resolved by placement relative to the wall. But they’re very crankable with metal.

 

No specific recommendations, but I'll just say that any pair of speakers that are reasonably neutral-ish, should sound good with metal. I listen to a fair amount of older metal and more extreme stuff from the 90s and more recent stuff and would never purchase a pair of speakers based around one genre of music. I do listen to a wide variety of genres though.

 

Hedd type 05 or 07
116Db @ 1metre , Clarity with huge dynamics your neighbours will love you !

 

You won't believe me, so be sure to check the reviews....

XLS 215 CERWIN VEGA Floorstanding Tower Speaker

Reviews...

TESTED: Cerwin-Vega CLS-215 Loudspeaker - The Absolute Sound

SoundStage! Equipment Review - Cerwin-Vega CLS-215 Loudpeakers (12/2007)

https://www.makeitsoundgreat.com/ce...-15-inch-3-way-floorstanding-speakers-review/

 

Those are old school. I browsed some other models too like the SL-12. I was a BIC guy back in the 80's with a similar type of speaker but CV's were more popular. I bet they are fun! SL-12 12" 3-Way Floor Tower Speaker

 

I have not heard their more recent products, but when I last auditioned a Cambridge amp some years ago, I would not have thought it a very good candidate for someone who primarily listens to metal (or any rock and roll actually).

 

Another Monitor Audio Silver 300 owner and metal fan, my metal leanings are mainly Doom, Death & Thrash.
When auditioning before getting these the Kef R500s came very close but I preferred the MAs, that's not to say you shouldn't check Kef out as well.

 

A good speaker will play all music equally well. Just get a sub(s) whatever you do.

 

Intrigued by the multiple recs of this model. They sell for about what I paid for my last speakers 25 years ago. Evidently, they can crank and sound good at low volumes too?

 

That's true at normal levels, but not at high volume, because the problem is not spectral balance, the problem is distortion. A lot of speakers, whether home or car, just can't handle hard rock or heavy metal, you get a real harsh sound. I presume it is a lot of harmonic and intermodulation distortions though that is just a hypothesis. Plus if you REALLY want to crank to back-in-the-day rock concert levels, non-horn tweeters simply cannot play as loud as horns.

 

Another vote for the Monitor Audio Silver 300. Best bang-for-the-buck towers out there.

 

Most of my listening is at relatively low volume, and I find they sound great for that. But when the wife and kids are out... they go loud very nicely!

 

I do not have this problem. I have played everything from Darkthrone to Entombed to Anthrax to Iron Maiden and on and on. Then again I am not worried about ear-splitting SPLs any more because I'm not 16 any more and value my hearing.

"Live sound" and actual concert volume levels are two different things I think. OP should be more specific about what they want.

 

That's what earmuffs are for!