The Revel for $3k (fine midrange); the 803N ONLY if your room allows listening in the farfield (they don't integrate well closer than 10-12' away; splashy if close to sidewalls, too, and a bit out of control in the bass); used Aerial 8, if you need the warmth; demo Verity Audio Fidelios can be found for $4k (but since woofers are rear-firing, you must dial them in); Thiel 2.3? (a bit relentless). After careful demos of all of these reasonably spouse-approved speakers (except the Revel!), I decided to bite the bullet and get demo Verity Audio Parsifal Encores ($8k). They are unbelievably resolving, work exceptionally well in the nearfield (7' triangle), tolerate sidewalls pretty well, and, with their reversable woofers can be set up in almost any decent room easily. You will not believe the quality of the midrange!...and they are VERY spouse-friendly. Your system as described could use a speaker as resolving as these. I too started my search in the $3-4k range, but HAD to buy the Encores, and know I will probably NEVER replace them! Now for a good digital front end....OY!
Hear ye! Thou who knowist thy speakers..
All you speaker connoisseurs, your assistance would be greatly appreciated. I live near Yosemite Park in the Sierra Mountains of Northern California, so getting to enough high end audio stores to audition speakers is very difficult and time consuming. Steering me in the right direction will save me many days and hours of travel. I own a Meridian 508.24 CD player, Audio Research LS 16 pre-amp, Plinius SA 100 MKIII Amp. Nordost SPM interconnects on the Meridian and NBS Monitor IV interconnects on the pre-amp and amp. Black Mamba on the CD and NBS Monitor IV power cords on the rest. My current speakers are NHT 2.5i with either (I switch them occassionally) NBS Monitor IV (warmer) or JPS Superconductor+ (revealing) bi-wire speaker cables. For the money ($1300), the NHT 2.5i are the best speakers I've heard, but it's time to get a speaker that compliments the rest of my system. I'm willing to spend no more than $5,000 for used or new speakers. I do have them hooked-up to the DSS receiver and DVD (stereo), but I mainly listen to music. Classical, jazz, world beat, rock.. If it sounds good, I'll listen to it. Which speakers in your humble opinion should I focus on and why?
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- 22 posts total
- 22 posts total