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Concert Experience for $5k?

I have a budget of $5k for new/used stereo speakers.
I have a VPI turntable, PrimaLuna Dialogue preamp and a Cary Audio V12 tube amp. (yeah, the one with 12 EL34’s sticking out of it) I’ve got quality gear and plenty of horsepower.

I am chasing the rock concert experience. When you’re at a live show drums have a sharp attack and crack. Bass/kick drums have a punch you can feel. ....that’s what I want to feel when I play a live album.

Which speakers - new or used - would you recommend to recreate that rock concert feeling?
128x128t-bon3
meerzistar
232 posts
 
rhljazz811 posts03-08-2016 12:00pmKlipsch La Scala’s should do the trick with all the power you have with the v12 amp.

Before finishing OP’s entire post the thought yelled out to me, La Scala’s!

Had the question been around jazz or a live unplugged event I would of said Harbeth super HL5. I've not heard a live event through speakers that actually sounded "live" prior to hearing those. Acoustic guitar and voicing is spine tingling realistic. I didn't really like them for all out rock music though.    
coli
291 posts
 
Get powered PA speakers, that’s what they use at small concerts. 15 inch two way and you sure will feel it. Just be careful not to destroy your house/windows.

Bigger concert uses arrays, but that won’t work in your home :)
mjmch2003
243 posts
 
I heard the big Focal Aria speakers (948 I believe) and found them to be about as full-range, rock-out as it gets these days; the porting on the bottom gave ’em that "thud" from the kick drum sound...As for high-sensitivity 8 ohm speakers I’ve owned, B&W and Triangle certainly gave me that "wow, I could literally be AT the bar" vibe..however, the mid presence often scared me so bad I thought they were going to rip a hole in my back wall...
tklp's avatar
tklp
11 posts
 
We used to use Altec Voice of the Theaters for PA. My mother hated them in the house.
audiokinesis
2,737 posts
 

The bass impact and naturalness you are seeking call for a speaker system that does a good job of taking the room’s effects into account, otherwise the room will impose unacceptably large peaks and dips on the bass region. This is a problem inherent in small rooms, such as we have in our homes - the bass is much smoother in large rooms where concerts are held.

The dynamic contrast of a live performance calls for drivers that are just loafing along even on the peaks, so that the peaks are delivered without compression. This implies either prosound drivers (preferably studio-grade), or lots of conventional drivers.

Delivering the sense of being immersed in and enveloped by the acoustic space of the recording while still retaining good imaging calls for paying a lot of attention to the psychoacoustic implications of design choices, particularly those having to do with the radiation pattern.

And finally doing all of this without any harshness or listening fatigue or other audible coloration calls for paying attention to all potential sources of coloration, which are too numerous to list.

Doing all of this for five grand is a long shot. Doing most of this for five grand is possible.

Imo, ime, ymmv, etc.

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