Best Monitor Up To 5K - Tube Friendly

Marchman: I have the same electronics in my home office system. Using a Cardas golden cross IC to hook th SLI-80 to the CD303. I had Oval 9 biwire but I am using a homemade speaker cable at the moment. For speakers I have a pair of B&W 805N. The room is almost 20ft square with several bumps and shape changes, and a full cathedral ceiling. Unfortunately I have not tried any other speakers yet in this system, so I cannot compare. All I can say is the bass is good and the listening is very pleasureable, BUT: I am an audiophile, so as soon as I can justify it, I will start trying other speakers. The oldest thing in this system is the speaker set, almost three years!
I don't think I have helped you much, but I think it would be reasonable for you to try a pair of 805Ns in your system....you might like it.

Marchman: You might want to audition PMCs TB-1, about 16" high. They go down to 40Hz because of their transmission line. They are rated at about 90 db sensitivity. These little guys always amaze me. Very neutral, originally designed as professional monitors.

BTW, how do you like your DH Labs Q-10s I've been thinking of upgrading my T-14s?
Regards,

Try to find a pair of pre-owned REFERENCE 3a ROYAL MASTERS (just the monitor portion of LA SUPREMA) for under $2000. 92db efficient, musical, fast and correct. Acutally serves as a great monitor for studio work. Altough no longer in my reference system (I use AVANATGAREGE DUOS Version 2.1), I will never sell the ROYAL MASTERS. Great stuff!

Try to find a pair of pre-owned REFERENCE 3a ROYAL MASTERS (just the monitor portion of LA SUPREMA) for under $2000. 92db efficient, musical, fast and correct. Acutally serves as a great monitor for studio work. Altough no longer in my reference system (I use AVANTGARDE DUOS Version 2.1), I will never sell the ROYAL MASTERS. Great stuff!

Your problem appears to be one of synergy. I think that Soliloquy and Silverline both build great products. I'm not sure they work well together though.

Why not try a more flexible sub, like a REL, if you really like the Silverlines? You can get a new Storm III for less than $2,000. Used RELs seem to sell quickly.

On the other hand, keep your sub and try out Soliloquy's monitors. I believe that their SM-2A3 model was designed by Dennis Had of Cary. The 5.0 is their newest monitor. Either of these can be had for around $1,500 new including custom stands (which should be considered part of the speakers). I don't see too many of these used. You can save some money buying Factory B-Stock.

I own a pair of Soliloquy 6.3 floorstanding models (as well as C3 center channel) and am quite satisfied. They probably don't image quite as well as monitors, but with frequency response down to 25Hz, I only use a sub for home theater. These actually don't take up much more floor space than monitors on stands, but they are more visually prominent.

Feel free to send me an email if you would like to discuss further or would like referral to Soliloquy's Factory B-Stock distributor.

Best regards.

Brady