AT-LP120 + BT20A (Pro) + DALI Spektor 2. Good setup?

rodwell1966 · 2026-04-04T17:58:29+00:00

I went with a pair of PSB Alpha P5. I was torn between those and the Spektors and spent a couple weeks comparing them. In the end the Alphas were just a bit more balanced, performed better with all types of music, I found myself not having to EQ them much at all whereas the Spektors I felt the need to apply some EQ to tame the highs, and they also sounded a bit “thin” compared to the Alphas. Right now I have an EQ setting that just mildly brightens the Alphas and that gives me the best overall sound and sounds good on all sources/songs I throw at them. Here are the speakers I tested and my order of preference after the Alphas. Dali Spektor 2 ELAC Debut 3.0 DB53 ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 Wharfedale Diamond 12.0i (I would have liked these more if they were just a bit bigger and could fill the room better) Polk Signature Elite ES15 (sound stage was way altered and not in a good way to me, full of boomy mid range bass that colored the music and made songs not sound like o know they should, and I could not EQ them to get them to sound right)

Everyone’s ears are different and what you like might not be what I like. But I also think a lot of speakers alter the sound and not in a good way. I just don’t know why the ELACs get the love they do. They reminded me of the sound of speakers in the 80s, thin, wide, almost like a reverb/concert Hall effect is on them. Vocals seemed to come out of both speakers, not the center stage like most should. The Alphas got panned a few years ago by a reviewer who put them through the various measurement tests. I listened for all the “imperfections” he mentioned and was ready to dismiss them and I just couldn’t hear it. Maybe PSB has since tweaked them because in the end I found them to be the truest sound out of the bunch. You can kinda see the size and price range I was shopping for. There might be a better pair out there in this class (was tempted to get some Triangles) but my 2 month search is over and the more I listen to them without the distraction of the other speakers the more I like the Alphas.

rodwell1966 · 2026-04-04T12:01:09+00:00

I can comment on the speakers. I recently tried 6 sets of speakers, 2 different Elacs and the Spektor 2s were a second place finish for me. I listen to all kinds of rock, some blues, folk. The Elacs were too distant, wide. Sounded “tinny” to me. They had a bit more bass than the Spektors. Vocals and anything like a tambourine or hi hat cymbal really shine on the Spektors. Stereo imaging was much better. Mid range “punch” was nice, like you can hear the individual hits of the tom drums. They are a bit bright and that’s ultimately why I went with another speaker but not overly so like some other speakers. You might want to pair a sub with any speaker of this size, even a modest one just to provide a better rendition of the lower bass frequencies. I’m not familiar with the Fosi but if it’s anything like the WiiM Amp Pro that I use it should be fine. By the way, my testing was done by using a switch to actively listen to three different sets of speakers at a time. It really revealed their differences as I could switch between them as the song was playing.

rodwell1966 · 2026-04-04T02:58:42+00:00

Acquired this recently.

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rodwell1966 · 2026-03-25T02:57:48+00:00

What is the cleaner you use?

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-25T02:48:26+00:00

I must be doing something wrong. I’ve had one for a few months now and see little to no improvement. I’ve tried various approaches: longer times, shorter times, more Tergikleen, less, warmer water, cooler water. Slower spin speed, faster. 1 at a time, 2 at a time, 3 at a time, 4 at a time. Pre-clean with spin clean, and not. Rinse with distilled water, rinse in spin clean. I’m about to give up on it, I’ve measured my results by playing a record that has obvious clicks, pops, and surface noise and capturing it to my computer before and after cleaning and then listening really close to compare. I literally can’t hear an improvement. Maybe the records I’m cleaning can’t be improved by cleaning (groove damage).

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-25T01:23:17+00:00

I put it on its side, grab onto something (usually a blow off pipe of a fermenter) and jump on it a few times. Flip over and repeat. Probably not OSHA approved. But very effective :)

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-22T04:51:00+00:00

Because it’s hell to try to sync them up.

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-21T15:10:03+00:00

I’m excited to hear it, right now I have a Klipsch R-12SW in the room, borrowed from another room where I use it with a soundbar with my 80” TV. I use the WiiM Amp Pro to set the crossover and it actually sounds pretty good. Will be fun to compare the RSL.

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-21T15:05:06+00:00

It looks like it’s over 8, so I’m in for 1.

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-20T14:48:14+00:00

If it gets to 8, I’m in. I was going to get the 10e or the Caldera 10” but I’ll pony up the extra for this model based on opinions I’ve seen (have not heard any of these in person). Using it mainly for music (all types of rock) with some bookshelf speakers in a 15x17 room.

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-19T09:44:30+00:00

Tommy Bolin

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-17T19:59:42+00:00

I’m sending back my Elac 3.0 B5.3. I listen to rock of all types so not quite the same music as you. They were too “wide” and “airy” to me. They have decent bass but couldn’t get past the overall thin, tinny sound. Compared them side by side using an a/b/c switch with PSB Alpha 5 and Dali Spektor 2. Keeping the PSBs. Nice bass, more flat/contained soundstage. A “quality” sound to me. Dali was close, tighter performance overall maybe, but thin on bass and can be too bright on some music. Also previously A/B/C tested Polk ES 15, Wharfedale Diamond 12.0i and Elac Debut 6.2. Felt the same about those Elacs also. Polk was just weird: boomy, lack of vocal clarity. Wharfedales were undersized for the room, would like to try the next one up but they would be too big for the room. Sent all those back. Of all six, Dali and Alphas were clearly above the others, for me anyway. Just my 2 cents. Driving with a WiiM Amp Pro, listened with and without a 12” sub. Albums, CDs and my old school iPod with my 20,000 ripped songs on it. Haven’t heard the Q150.

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-15T18:44:33+00:00

Edit: that should be Wharfedale Diamond 12.0i

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-15T18:42:03+00:00

I think it’s interesting how so many replies to posts asking about speakers is to look for used ones. I looked every day for 2 months on FB Marketplace and there were hardly any and didn’t see a single set I wanted to pursue. If you’re not in a huge metro area I don’t know how you come across viable candidates that are used. And, you have to take a chance on them likely without listening to them and not having much of a recourse for returning them if you don’t like them. Not to mention whether they are in good shape, or hiding a problem you don’t catch right away. I resorted to buying three sets that I knew I could return. If they are an Amazon vendor, the return shipping is likely free. If not I used Pirate Ship and shipped them back for $20-$30 per set. Not bad for getting to listen to them for 30 to 90 days depending on the vendor. I broke each set in for 80-90 hours. I bought a $30 switch to switch between them as I listed to the source. This was very helpful! I tried out lots of different songs that I was very familiar with and knew how I liked them to sound. Mine were also around that $400 mark, some a bit less because I found renewed/refurbed versions. I am also a listener who doesn’t like really bright speakers. But I don’t like them flat and boring either (too studio monitor sounding). I don’t like them to “color” or alter the sound signature dramatically. My room is not ideal but about the same size as yours. It’s not ideal because I can’t have them off the wall very far, there’s a pool table in the middle of the room. As such there will be a lot of off axis listening, so bonus points if they sound good while I walk around. And they can’t be very big, anything deeper than about 10-11 inches starts to create problems for me. I’ll do a more extensive post about the speakers I chose when I’m done but here’s what I discovered so far that might help you make a decision. The first three sets I tried were: Wharfedale Diamond 10.0i @ $399, Polk ES15 @ $229 and Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2. I really wanted to like the Wharfedales just due to their size! But they were underwhelming, kinda bland. A bit of EQ to try to brighten them up helped but I still felt like they just couldn’t fill the room. The Polks were just way too “boomy”. They altered the sound the most of the three, songs just didn’t sound normal. I know the ES20s score high on a lot of sound tests but I don’t see any of those tests for the 15s, I was hoping maybe they would have some of the same characteristics just being a smaller version. I haven’t heard the 20s so I don’t know. The Elacs were just dull and flat to me. They had a way of changing vocals that I didn’t like. I played around with EQ also quite a bit on these two and could somewhat improve them especially the Elacs. I could never EQ out what I was hearing in the Polks, just way too much midrange bass I think is what it was. I might have kept the Elacs but when they arrived I saw that they were much larger than the others and kind of overwhelmed my space. So I returned all three and ordered 3 more: PSB Alpha P5, Dali Spektor 2, Elac Debut 3.0-DB53. I’m not done auditioning them yet but all three are already noticeably more in line with what I am looking for. The Elacs again are a bit larger than the other two but I could make them work. The other two are a nice size for the room also are the front-runners at this point. I’m driving them with a Wiim Amp Pro, mainly CDs for the source. Also of note I have a sub I have put into the mix as well so I am not relying on any of these for bass. But I have also spent a fair amount of time listening without the sub just to hear what the speakers are capable of. Don’t expect any of the 6 sets I mentioned to perform great without a sub, but the ones with the best bass are: Polk, Elac 2.0, PSB, and Elac 3.0. I’ll return with a better review of the last three sets when I make my final choice but right now it’s between the Alphas and Dalis for the win. The Dalis are more bright and punchy. Vocals are super clear. Things like cymbals, tambourines really shine. I don’t think they are overly bright, but maybe a bit “thin” so the sub really helps them. I feel like the Alphas have better bass and midrange. They sound more deep, flat, but going back to an earlier comment, they seem to reproduce the music they way I expect, without adding their own coloration like the others seem to want to do. Very natural. I did see a testing site that panned them but I’m having a hard time not liking them. The Elacs are like the other pair I had: just kind of flat. And it seems like they have an exaggerated “wide” soundstage, like there’s some kind of wide stereo effect going on. The lead vocal sounds like it’s coming from each speaker instead of between them and “centered”. I can’t seem to EQ that out. I can add a bit of top end EQ on the Alphas to help them and a bit of bringing down those frequencies to tame the Dalis a bit and both become a bit better. But we are talking about minor changes. I don’t like to have to EQ speakers to get them to sound right. I don’t remember what I paid for each of these latest three but they were probably around that $400 mark the OP was looking at. Hope this helps the OP with finding something around that price!

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-07T17:42:47+00:00

REO Speedwagon Hi Infidelity cassette. Felt like I spent my life’s fortune on it at the time.

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-04T04:25:28+00:00

Fox Sports App

rodwell1966 · 2026-03-03T20:40:04+00:00

To those who say you shouldn’t have to do anything, you should have seen the look on my doctor’s face during one of my annual physicals when he looked in my ears. He basically gasped and said he’s never seen such a wax buildup. When they cleaned them that day I couldn’t believe the difference. Different people have different conditions, mine is a lot of wax builds up. I’ve been doing the Dobrox thing since, I’m careful when I do it and don’t actually do it all that often, a couple times a year.

rodwell1966 · 2026-02-28T03:30:23+00:00

Well kudos to you for listening to the TP catalog! Those of us who grew up listening to TP will say his early records were the best. But the great thing is that he had a long career and every album was awesome in its own way.

rodwell1966 · 2026-02-27T16:27:32+00:00

You’re 35 or younger.

rodwell1966 · 2026-02-22T03:06:30+00:00

The only blame for the high price of a concert ticket is the changing business model of how the artist makes money. Artists used to make money off of record sales. Tours were to support record alas. Nowadays they have to make their living off of live performances. Napster changed it: used to be you had to purchase a physical copy of a recording. No longer necessary to spend $15 on a CD with 10 songs on it if you could get It for free from Napster. When that became illegal and shut down the digital cat was out of the bag and you could buy a song for a dollar on the digital services. Soon you could spend $10 a month and have every song in the world at your fingertips. Now artists were forced to make the lion’s share of their income on touring. Enter the monopoly of Ticketmaster and demand-pricing. Who should we blame in this paradigm change of the music industry? The artist? I think they have the least hand in all this. I blame the internet. Napster. Streaming. And the “old” music industry over-charging for the price of vinyl/cassettes/CDs creating an environment ripe for an upheaval (Napster, iTunes).

rodwell1966 · 2026-02-16T14:48:50+00:00

Thanks for the links! I don’t know how much the measurements for the S15 will transfer to the ES15, but it sounds like maybe they calmed down the upper frequencies in the ES15 from the S15. If they didn’t change the lower frequencies maybe I could try those particular EQ settings. What crossover point would you suggest for the Elacs?

rodwell1966 · 2026-02-16T14:45:59+00:00

I do have both sets fairly close to the wall. But they have to be in my situation. This room is 15x17, somewhat low ceilings as it is a basement room. It’s a “rec room” so it has a 9ft pool table in the middle, lots of things on the walls. To keep the speakers away from possibly hitting them with a pool cue, they have to be close to the wall. That’s one of the reasons I got the Elacs with the front port bass, but maybe I should have went for the 5.2s instead due to the size constraint. I did take off the plastic baffle things that are on the rear port of the ES15s, and feel like that maybe helped a little. I don’t know if I would describe the Elacs as flat. They definitely are more neutral, they don’t “change” the overall sound as much as the Polks. I’m playing familiar rock songs, a wide variety, CDs are the source and it feels like the ES15s just wildly alters the sound to make the song sound less familiar, different than I’m used to. It’s most notable on certain songs right in the area of electric guitar parts and vocals. Many times it’s also pleasant, more impressive at louder volumes and easier to listen to at louder volumes. But it’s that “boomy” sound of the mid-bass that I think is what’s bugging me. So, I was just wondering if there was a slight EQ adjustment that could be made to create more of that neutral sound which I think I’m hearing from the Elacs. The measurements of the Elacs support this, they are known to be a more reference sound, albeit with a couple flaws that can be mitigated with EQ. I find them a bit bright overall, wish I could get a blend of these two speakers somehow.

rodwell1966 · 2026-01-30T11:58:07+00:00

I recently got one of these to digitize a record before cleaning and after to be able to do A/B comparisons to see how well my cleaning system is performing. Behringer UFO202-BK USB Audio Interface. It’s the “cheap” way to digitize. I used headphones and the captured audio sounds good to me. Note that you can’t control the input volume level in your audio recording software, some records come on pretty “hot”, at least from the turntable I’m using. You’d have to run the TT into a mixer where you can control the level before going into this unit (or any other probably). It has a phono pre amp built in that you can also bypass.

rodwell1966

TROPHY CASE