The Polk R700 is a very good speaker that has a lot to offer at a great price. I like it, but it doesn't meet what I'm looking for in my next speaker system.

The Polk R700 has smooth bass (claimed 38Hz) with no noticeable peaks or valleys, but the mids and highs can't keep up with the bass, making the speakers sound too warm in my opinion. The relatively weak mids and highs give the speaker a somewhat dull tonality with insufficient air or detail for my taste.

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The Omni Sound TCM3 has been my main speaker for 34 years.

Designed and built by Randy McCarter, they use an 8/" handmade Toby woofer paired with a Vifa 1/" tweeter. The crossovers use only air core inductors and polypropylene capacitors and oxygen-free, large internal wiring.
The specifications are 36Hz – 21KHz +/- 3db
92db @ 1 watt meter
8 ohms
58 pounds

I had the woofers refoamed by Toby a few years ago and I replaced the original Vita D25Ag-05-06 aluminum dome tweeters with Peerless D27TG35-06 silk dome units.

The TCM3s are great speakers with lots of dynamics, deep bass and detail across the entire frequency range, but there is a narrow band in the bass area that is slightly amplified. I can hear it when I listen to some of Leo Kottke's guitar solos, some notes are louder than others when they shouldn't be. Also, the treble can be fatiguing at moderately loud listening levels. I have had some success in softening the room response by treating the listening area with a combination of diffusion and absorption materials and bass traps.

The TCM3s are great, but is there a speaker on the market today that will make me even happier within my budget of no more than $3,500 per pair?

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The Acoustat 2+2 electrostatics have the best bass I've heard yet, going deep (claimed 28 Hz +/- 2 dB) with no audible peaks and valleys. But because it is an electrostatic speaker, the speakers lack the dynamics of a traditional speaker system and the ideal spot for optimal listening is about 60 cm wide, 3 meters away from the speakers. They have the largest soundstage that is amazingly wide and high. The make box speakers sound small in comparison. The higher frequencies are noticeably rolled off with the Acoustats. I replaced all capacitors, diodes and resistors in the HF circuits of the interface units and tested the HF transformers and HF variable resistors with a multimeter. Everything is going fine, but so far I have not been able to restore the higher frequency response of these 40 year old speakers.

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The Monitor Audio RS6s sound smooth at lower volumes (claimed 38Hz), but become harsh and empty when pushed beyond regular listening levels.

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The search continues…..

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