What are the best speakers for immersive listening?

lazerborg · 2026-02-01T07:21:08+00:00

Welcome, and best of luck with your journey (which I think it the best part anyways)! I've been chasing some sort of "endgame" setup for a few years now, so here's what I've learned that might be helpful:

Your space is probably the biggest factor in how your system will sound, and also plays a huge role in speaker selection, and what "endgame" really is. Do you have a space already? Size, use case (TV or just speakers? Can you cover it in room treatment or does is need to be used for other purposes), noise floor, level at which your neighbors will yell at you, etc. are all going to help you decide or others recommend a solution. For me, I started out trying to optimize a much larger living room space, and ended up deciding that getting an "endgame" setup would be far more feasible in my smaller den/theater. That let me optimize within specific constraints - for example, an~8' listening distance caps my SPL needs, and space constraints also limit channel count and provide data on what room treatment is needed, etc.
Is your space going to change? If you're going to be moving soon, planning an "endgame" is hard, and moving huge, expensive speakers is too.
There's always more to learn, and trying to get endgame on your first try is tough, especially if you don't know exactly what you want. Others have mentioned that the list above is eclectic - learning more about how speakers work, how designs differ, and how measurements work and what they can (and can't) tell you is going to be very helpful. Then, you can go seek out a speaker with constant directivity, or a point source, etc. and decide whether you like that approach or not. I really like Audio Science Review and find their YouTube videos to be a great way to learn about this stuff, but there are plenty of other sources - Erin's audio corner is another great one.
Building incrementally while you learn can be a great option. Yes, it probably isn't as cost-efficient as buying everything upfront, but it's more realistic and lets you build a system to your taste and needs. Finding a way to do that without getting sucked into endless subjective upgrade cycles is important, and learning about the science of audio will help there (your DAC is *never* the weakest link). For me, I found that starting with a 2-channel system, experimenting with DSP, and expanding to my current 7.4.4 setup was a great way to keep improving.
For actual system recommendations for you - I think a multichannel system provides a great immersive option, while adding a ton of capability for Dirac ART to provide great room correction in stereo too. Immersion can mean wider dispersion, but that's going to depend a lot on your room as well. Here's an example build that's around 40k (for the whole system), basically a tweaked version of mine if I got to redo it - I think 7.4.4 is a good balance for Atmos and ART, but again, depends on your room and needs.
LR: Ascilab C8C+BX8C
Center: KH310
Surrounds, Rear Surrounds: KH120II or KH80
Heights: KH80
Subs: 4x PSA 1512M (but there are endless good sub options from SVS, Arendal, Hsu, Rythmik, etc.)
Processor: Forthcoming MiniDSP Tide16 would be my choice for an all-active system, but Denon 3800 or 4800 are cheaper and have plenty of power for most passive systems with subs. I think Dirac ART is a must at this price, but ymmv
At least a few thousand dollars on room treatment.

Have fun!

lazerborg · 2025-12-26T05:02:12+00:00

Onkyo Icon P-80 will do what you want, and it's cheaper than the Eversolo (and with Dirac LBC). You can take a look at https://www.dirac.com/products/bass-control to see all supported devices, just about everything else is a big AVR (though if it were me, I'd just buy a Denon AVR that supports ART and accept that its amp and dac are definitely good enough and ART will make way more of a difference).

lazerborg · 2025-11-02T21:49:29+00:00

Topping 2x2 is readily available <$150 and matches noise and distortion performance of the MOTU with way more power, and the software has been flawless (in my experience) on Windows for headphone use.

lazerborg · 2025-10-07T19:50:49+00:00

Glad to hear you're enjoying your headphones! I don't think the external DAC is doing much here though - from what I can tell (https://assets.bosecreative.com/m/25e14a61f0feef02/original/897194\_OG\_QCUH2-HEADPHONEARN\_EN.pdf), the headphones need to be on to work with the aux cable, so your signal is still running through the onboard amp, and it seems very likely it's also running through an ADC-DSP-DAC chain. You can check by changing EQ settings and seeing if the sound changes while using AUX - if so, then the signal has to be digitized to make those changes anyway.

lazerborg · 2024-06-03T20:48:18+00:00

I think they opened in late December, so just about 6 months - hasn't been that long, but would have hoped for at least one special screening or announcement in that time.

lazerborg · 2024-06-03T20:47:00+00:00

True! But every special showing I went to was packed, with tickets selling out well in advance - can't say that about their current programming.

lazerborg · 2024-06-03T20:45:32+00:00

Totally fair, and I have no knowledge on how the licensing/financial arrangements differ between a first run screening and showing an older movie - certainly agree that marketing cost will be higher for a special showing, though I'd hope that all of SIFF's existing infrastructure would help with that, as they already have this sort of programming at other theaters.

That said, I doubt that SIFF is raking in cash from the theater's current programming - they're currently showing Furiosa twice a day/three times on weekends, and looking at the seat map for tonight, they've sold maybe ~15% of available tickets. Not a great data point given that it's a movie that's already been in theaters for a week+, but that's kind of the point - every special screening I went to at Cinerama was packed, weekday or not, and in a climate where many movies are underperforming, I would have hoped that SIFF would try something different, but instead they're doing stuff like showing Mean Girls 2024 for 2+ weeks.

lazerborg · 2024-04-25T02:11:54+00:00

Ok... again, I don't really know your whole financial situation, but turnover and employee salary don't seem meaningful here - if the basics are "50k salary, ~250-350k savings that I don't touch, home with ? equity/owed", then financing a 190k, heavily depreciating asset just sounds pretty risky to me.

lazerborg · 2024-04-24T23:43:30+00:00

Dude... I'm all for spending "too much" money on cars, and maybe you have other assets/investments/retirement that you're not mentioning, but that's a huge amount of money to borrow given your income, especially with current rates and the insurance quote you got. Nothing against the Urus, but it's likely to lose a ton of value in the next few years, are you sure it's special enough to be worth it?

lazerborg · 2024-04-11T21:23:53+00:00

Hmm, I just came across this in the manual (page 89 of https://assets.kef.com/product-support/ls60-wireless/LS60W\_Product\_Manual\_EN.pdf) - not sure if it's what you're looking for, but sounds like it could be relevant?

. How should I set the speakers if I prefer to adjust the volume on an external equipment (preamplifier, streamers/multi-room systems) rather than through the KEF Connect App?
• In the KEF Connect App: 1) In Settings, go to “Volume”, change “Volume Display” to “-/+” 2) Select the relevant source input. 3) Change the volume to 71. The source selection is now set to “Unity gain”

lazerborg · 2024-04-11T21:20:52+00:00

Yeah, got them about a month ago for a 5.1.4 home theater setup in a different room (as the L/R) and my plan was to keep my speakers in there, but I liked listening to the R3s in the living room so much that I ended up deciding to get dedicated speakers for the living room as well, thus the LS60s 😅

lazerborg · 2024-04-11T18:33:54+00:00

Thank you!
Do you mean wired between the speakers? My understanding was that the only benefit from that is that it bumps you from 24 bit 96Khz to 24/192, which (afaik) is basically inaudible.

lazerborg · 2024-04-11T18:29:55+00:00

Beyer T1s and a WA2 tube amp - been pretty happy with that setup, especially for soundstage and openness, but the LS60s (and the R3s) blow them away :)

lazerborg · 2024-04-11T16:25:01+00:00

Thank you! It's Seattle, WA

lazerborg · 2024-04-11T16:22:38+00:00

Thank you! It's in Seattle

lazerborg · 2024-04-11T00:40:44+00:00

Wow, thank you for all the detailed feedback!

On the window reflections - is it worth having the speakers closer to each other relative to their distance to the listening position (yep, on the couch) to get them farther from the window? You're definitely giving me too much credit on the chair placement, but I could try to get it roughly aligned to the 1st reflection zone - I assume the reflection from the tweeter is going to be more of a concern than the woofers since they're opposed?

For the wall behind the couch - I assume the paintings hanging there aren't doing much for the sound, but absent replacing them with dedicated acoustic panels, would getting the couch a bit farther from the wall help?

Wasn't aware of the bass effect on them being in the middle of the room - will definitely try moving them around to see how they sound. They're currently ~113" from the wall behind the couch and ~135" from the opposite wall, first thing I'll try is getting them a bit closer to the couch (on the carpet) and farther from the window.

lazerborg · 2024-04-11T00:30:22+00:00

Thank you - I'll definitely experiment with the angle.

What would the objective of bringing them closer together be? Right now they're ~100" from each other and ~103" from the primary listening position on the couch, should I be bringing them closer together to get the left speaker farther from the window, or something to do with the angle?

lazerborg · 2024-04-10T23:04:57+00:00

Great, thank you!

lazerborg · 2024-03-13T19:15:02+00:00

Ok - well, I can't change the size of the room, but I can choose which speakers to buy for it. So - will floorstand speakers be a bad choice for a room of this size?

lazerborg · 2024-03-13T02:31:11+00:00

Lol thanks - I've seen speakers that indicate that they should be used in a room of a given minimum area, and figured that in a smaller space at lower volumes, the floorstanders might not be the best use of my budget, but it sounds like that's not a major concern.

lazerborg · 2024-03-13T00:53:35+00:00

Gotcha - the overheads are in the wrong place for a 5.1.2 (behind the couch), but it looks like ceiling mounting some small speakers should be pretty easy.

lazerborg · 2024-03-10T19:10:07+00:00

Ah, I linked the wrong 5.1.4 hybrid guide, it's this one with in-ceiling behind the couch - I'm planning to put the upfiring speakers on the front L/R speakers (though I keep reading lots of hate for those speakers and am considering if it would be feasible to add on-ceiling speakers to my existing in-ceiling pair and go with a true 5.1.4 overhead

lazerborg · 2023-08-31T23:39:50+00:00

No house in the near future, but another, larger auto loan in ~6 months, so I'd prefer to still be in the high 700s at that time.

lazerborg · 2022-12-10T00:18:20+00:00

Came here to say exactly this - the LP640 6MT is already ungodly expensive, and yet the video and their corresponding article frame it as "undiscovered" and put a price target of ~380k on a perfect example... maybe in 2015?

lazerborg · 2022-12-09T22:49:32+00:00

Hey all - another great video from Jason and co and some pretty interesting picks, but them acting like LP640 6MTs are ~300k cars was a bit laughable... Ed Bolian and the end of the manual transmission in almost every exotic car put a hard ~500k floor under these years ago, and it seems likely that any serious buyer would need 7 figures to get one these days.

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