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Dazed & Confused

Listening to mostly jazz, solo instruments and vocals I find my Martin Logan Spire hybrids to sound awesome, but recently I was listening to some both "Busy" 90’s rock and classical (lots of instruments playing loudly together) and I find the music starts to sound garbled and annoying (to bright), so much so, I turn it off.
I was wondering if you all might have some suggestions on some speakers that would be a little more forgiving with busy/loud music that I could possibly switch over to when listening to different types of music. That is unless I can find speakers that can handle all styles of music, then I would consider taking the hit ($$$) on selling the Spires.

Without getting into room size and dynamics, lets just call it a standard room, I was also looking for something more efficient. The Spires need a huge amount of power (and volume) to sound good. Looking more for something I can listen to loud but also still enjoy the music at a much lower volume if that’s at all possible. Neutral and not to bright.
Living in the sticks, I can’t just jump in the car to go demo speakers. Only once, in the past, did I purchase a set of speakers online and unheard, going solely on the sales person’s recommendations. I learned the hard way to never do that again!

Equipment now: Coda CSiB integrated amp with W4S 2v2 SE Dac running Roon Nucleus.

I also wanted to mention that the Spires have phenomenal base, so much so I sold the 2 subs I was originally using with them. Floor standers and bookshelfs have come along way in SQ these days, but if I need to purchase another set of subs the budget is starting to dwindle.

No vinyl or CD’s, just Tidal.

$3,000 - $5000 budget, new or newer demos.

Thanks for any suggestions or advice you may have to offer!
Paul
high-amp
tablejockey
3,904 posts
 
"Played YES, Close to the Edge first track and when the vocals come in at the 4 minute mark, ouch. Then when the organs starts up at 13.03 I gotta turn it off (or at lease way down)."

"I get up, I get down..." Epic, at max volume. Almost a religious experience.

That album will only sound  a little "better" on really nice systems. There are articles that mention CTTE isn't a "reference" recording.  I've played a very clean original press of that album in STELLAR setups. It's only a litle more controlled, but still a busy mess. I haven't heard a file or CD sound more convincing, either.

It's one of my favorite Yes albums. Even on the "best", it's only a little more controlled on the complex busy sections. 

Better to just enjoy the music. You have fine equipment.  As mentioned speaker placement and room tuning do wonders.
ronrags's avatar
ronrags
281 posts
 
@tablejockey I agree that CTTE is one of the worst recordings. I remember buying the LP when it was first released and could barely listen to it. It was so harsh and brittle that you can compare it to nails on a chalkboard.
high-amp OP
508 posts
 
Point well taken on the recording gents.

 Anything you can recommend that is that's as an "Religious Experience" (luv it)/ busy that would be good to put a system to the test?
 Love Emerson, Lake & Palmer as well, but I think all their recordings may not be so great either

Just a side note on YES, got me to thinking. They were the first real concert I saw when I was 15 years old (first was Paul Revere & the raiders in more of a theater like setting). Triple bill: The Eagles, Edgar Winter featuring Rick Derringer both opening acts for YES.
 Cost for ticket, are you ready for this...$4! 
After the supercharged, high energy show of watching EW/RD who followed the Eagles, everyone was ready to sleep when YES finally played, oh so mellow. 
Then there was ELP with the quadraphonic set up in a large stadium type venue...Ah, the good old days.
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
suggestions for something without so many output devices
My tastes tend to tube amplifiers. I would never presume to recommend. The BJ 5000 is decent garden variety speaker cable and should not cause any issues with most well designed amplifiers.

I would council buying performance and not jewelry. Given 4 amplifiers, 4 sets of cables and 4 pair of speakers, one will have 64 combinations, not one of which will be accurate and all will be flawed in several areas.

The secret to a satisfying system is knowing the flaws you can tolerate and those you can’t. In my case, I don’t really care a hoot about frequency response but can’t abide incoherent time response. ESLs, Maggies, and aligned dynamics are my cup of tea. Not much of a fan of anything ported as the very low end is always indistinct. YMMV!

AND, I’m not a fan of multi woofer tall, vertical front skinny boxes. IMO, time performance suffers badly. A 2 or 3 way with single woofer and a pair of subs [with delay, variable XO freq, multiple XO slope choices and continuous phase control] gives a more coherent low end... everything else being equal.

In the end, it is the system which is the ± of the cumulative device flaws that matters.

Buy in haste, regret at leisure.
high-amp OP
508 posts
 
Eloquently spoke ieales, my apologies for the "jewelry" slang, wrong choice of words.

I would love to get into tubes, I always feared the maintenance aspect. Most of my life has been work, eat and sleep (with little of the later). Just wanted the reliability of SS when I did have a chance to listen to some music. 

Life will eventually taper down with retirement in the not to distant future but the cash flow follow the same path. With a change of equipment in mind this may possibly be the last kick at the cat and I truly want to get it right. I don't want to spend my golden years in "Regret"

That said, I'm assuming if I go with tubes (Prima Luna looks interesting and there is a dealer not to far away). I may want to look at different speakers than previously discussed here. For example, Zu Audio speakers seem to be rated to match well.

With this in mind, I would look again to the wealth of knowledge from you all here who contribute to this forum.

Could you share with me your set up or are we getting to far off track and I should start a new thread? 

I will be working on my system tomorrow afternoon with all the great suggestions that have been given here and report back as soon as possible! 

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