great system....the a/d/s is still a competitor and in all seriousness would be hard to beat. you could go to a british proac, spendor, or harbeth, but I'm not sure you're gaining much if anything. move the speakers around first, and see if that helps. |
Definitely check out Sonus Faber. One of the sweetest, warmest speakers out there. Wonderful midrange, very smooth on the top end. There are quite a few pairs and models for sale here on audiogon in your price range. I don't think the ADS will come close. |
Great electronics and a/d/s were certainly some of the best speakers I heard back in the day. Sonus Faber certainly has a reputation for warmth, and as Jaybo says, the brit speakers in general do to -- Spendor, ProAc, Harbeth, etc. |
I agree with Ncarv, Sonus Faber are definately on the warm side. A little too on the warm side for my taste, but musical. |
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Dynaudio is worth auditioning if you must. Just a touch to the warm side of neutral in general. |
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In my opinion, you could not go wrong with Harbeth 7es3's.
Fantastic speakers with unbelievable mid-range quality.
The only criticism is they don't work for hard rock, if you like your music loud. |
Older Sonus Faber Grand Piano Concertos. Warm and laidback and rolled-off in the highs. The Spendors and Harbeths are warm and revealing but not laidback. |
Vandersteeen.Also though I used to sell them B&W are pretty warm and forgiving of lesser electronics if not most precise at "x" dollar amount.
Chazz |
Thank you all for your responses. I had in mind the Vandersteen 2ce sig or 3A and the other speaker was the Vienna Acoustics.
I definitely want a floor standing speaker and I do listen to music sometimes quite loud.
Thx |
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There's a pair of Sonus Faber Grand Piano Domus listed here, apparently in excellent shape, at your price point. |
BW forgiving? Not so sure about that one, those can be harsh and abusive IMO you gotta be careful. Vandersteen would be my call |
A little bit more in the budget and you might be able to nail a pair of Silverline Sonata IIIs... preowned. Floor standers your amp can drive well. they'll play any genre well and will reveal as much as your components will allow . Sweetest tweeter on the planet... as with Dyn Audio.. the Esotar... and Dyn Audio mid bass and bass drivers.
Easy to position... drive.. and they'll certainly play loud.. depending on your room size and amp, @ 93db, and appox 5-7 ohm imp. . Rock, Jazz, big bands, vocalists, folk RB or Contry... they're way good all arounder speakers. Not tremendously tall, or heavy. Very nice in piano gloss.
I routinely run mine with 120 - 150 wpc amps. bi wired. Theyll do HT very well too. Great Rock & Roll speakers, and just a lot of fun to listen to a lot.. Better bass than SF too
in fact with SS amps, the bass is or can be great depending on room size. Very nice. |
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I think you will want to listen before you buy. The articulate bass of the ads coupled with the smooth treble is hard to find. If you can find a modern acoustic suspension type that has soft dome silk tweeter, that would be ideal. |
IMO, the Sonus Faber Electa Amators would be a good choice. As
said above, they are warm sounding and can play loud. Highs are smooth, probably due to the Dynaudio Esotar tweeter. You
would not be disappointed, and they are in your price range-
$2K-3K including stands. No, I'm not selling my pair! |
Nak,
Vandys were the first that came to my mind. Re: Sonus Faber. They were mentioned several times and some posters specified earlier models. I agree that the older models (I own Minuettos from the early '90s) would be a good call. However, some of the more recent models (I also own Cremonas) have A LOT more energy in the presence region and are not nearly as warm sounding. Just a "heads up" should you consider this route.
Marty |
Some great suggestions have been made, the vans would also top my list. Try to get a listen to Tannoys. Best you go new and get the ability to demo them in your listening environment using your equipment. Dealer show room demo's will prove nothing. Don't fall for a bargain in used unless you can return them. |
Let us know when you are ready to sell the A/D/S. |
Have you thought about moving to tube amp instead?
they're pretty warm sounding.
Aside from that, there are quite a view SS amps that's warm sounding as well.
Instead of replacing the speakers, why not play with the amp first? |
What size/range of speaker are you looking for? I would look at any of the French speaker manufacturers: Triangle, Focal or (my favorite) JM Reynaud. All excel at the sound qualities that you are looking for: warm sounding laid back speakers not aggressive in the mid range and not hyper detailed Triangle and Reynaud will work espacially well with tube amps. With your electronics I would take a hard look at something in the Focal Chorus line or the Micro Utopia if you a monitor would work. |
Anytime I hear Vandys as a solution I have to suggest Snell Type A's (AIII ot AIIIi). I've heard the Vandy 2 & 3s..the Snell Type A's are a step up (imho). They are 4 ohm @86dB, but 130watts at 8 ohms should be enough power.
I run my Type A2's with a tube pre & McCormack DNA1..very nice.. |
Fish boat the Vandersteen 2s are 30 year old design
there is nothing in that speaker not a single component that is anywhere near the same performance as the current 2CE Sig 2
Cheers Johnnyr |
The Triangle recommendation is interesting. I've never heard any, but somehow I'd gotten the impression they were more on the light-and-bright side. Thanks.
-Bob |
Sorry..Johnnyr..I should have been more clear..I was referring to the modern versions of the Vandy 2 & 3's. I listened to both in the last couple years(whatever version was out at the time) and wasn't all that taken with the 2's. The 3's are nice. I also attended a local audio meeting at a shop where Richard Vandersteen gave a talk about his design philosphy..etc. Richard was very well spoken & seemed like a good guy, but what he's doing with speakers seemed very similar to what Peter Snell tried to do with the Type A's. That's not a bad thing & not trying to stir any pots..Vandy makes nice speakers..this was just my takeaway after his talk.
I have two sets of Type A's (an A2 set & A3 set). My only suggestion, although they can be hard to find, is that "warm sounding speakers" fits well with the Type A's. If someone likes the Vandy sound then Snell is worth a look. The price is surely right and a pair set up well with good power & source will compete well with anything in the <3K price range. There is a pair on agon now (no relation) that are priced a little on the high side, but in range of an offer..so I guess they are priced right for a start..and the woofers have been redone. If they were a 1000 miles closer..I'd look at them. |
I agree with a number of the suggestions, particularly the older Vandersteens. Another warm-sounding speaker I would suggest that might match your requirements would be the Annandale Acoustics A25, which is something of an homage to the old Dynaco A25. You can see their website at http://www.annandaleacoustics.com/. We had these demo'd to us at an NJ Audio society meeting and, while the reaction overall may have been mixed (it usually is), I think most would agree that this is a warm-sounding speaker. IMHO it was very enjoyable to listen to, particularly with rock and vinyl. The company is not well-known, but it is a good quality product that they offer. |
Blumenhofer Genuin FS4.2
http://www.blumenhofer-acoustics.com/Loudspeakers/SerieGenuin/GenuinFS4/GenuinFS4.html
Smooth, warm, very open, very dynamic, full range sound. |
Reynaud's have a natural warmth that doesn't get in the way of transparency or timbre. They are lesser known for lack of US dealers but worth seeking out if have a chance. |
I would not describe my Triangles as warm. |
Aerial 7B's were quite like what you're describing, at least to my ears when I listened to them. I found that surprising because I had been under the impression that metal domed tweeters resulted in harshness. However, the 7B's have metal domed tweeters and were certainly NOT harsh at all to my ears. These probably could be had for around what you're looking to pay. Overall I thought that they were a VERY nice speaker when I listened to them. And of course, Aerial's a stellar company. Based on your stated sonic preferences I'd give these a strong recommendation for auditioning, if at all possible.
Addendum: I VERY STRONGLY AGREE with what Brownsfan said:
"I think you will want to listen before you buy."
Also, Like Brownsfan, I've had great prior experience with ADS speakers. Mine were 2-ways deployed in the door of our 1995 Windstar (may it rest in peace). Those had great midbass punch, were smooth and had good detail. So if you're looking to replace the ADS ONLY because you're looking for something more modern, then.....well, it's up to you but I'd certainly at least listen (preferably in your own system) before pulling the trigger on anything. Even if you're replacing them because they're starting to fall apart, I'd still listen to anything before buying it. My guess is that there's a very good chance that you're "spoiled" by what you have already. |
Those dunlavy scIII's in Cherry might work well for you if you can give them some room to perform.I ran a pair with Cary slam 100 mono's and McCormack DNA-1 monoblocks;when using the solid state amps the scIII's performed extremely well with a tubelike presentation but not the equal of the Cary's as one would expect. |
Harbeths (SHL5s at least) are certainly warmish, or certainly not cold/analytical at all, but at the cost of some detail/reach into the music, to my ears.
If you are asking this question because you have been burned by too-much-info speakers be careful not to swing too far in the other direction. Balance is usually always the key, I think. |
"you have been burned by too-much-info speakers'
Often due to not feeding them right.
"Too much info" is a cop out in my mind. Give me all the info and do it well and to my personal taste, that's all I ask. |
Zu Druids. Very musical, warm and efficient, great dynamics, quick. |
Fritz Carbon 7 is a warm sounding speaker, well within your budget too. |
