Replacements for Dynaudio Floorstanders


Hi there.

My current system is made up of the following: Dynaudio Contour 1.8 Mk IIs, Krell 300il, Benchmark USB DAC, and a laptop with lossless music.

I'm looking to introduce a little warmth in my system, seeing as the Dyn/Krell/DAC combo has miles of resolution, but doesn't offer much in the way of engagement. I'm considering selling my Dynaudios for a warmer pair of speakers that I hope to find on Audiogon. $4k is my limit. My thinking is a used pair of B&W Nautilus 802s or 803s. What other suggestions would folks have, in terms of speakers that have similar resolution to Dynaudio's stuff, but offers more warmth and darkness? One outside consideration of mine is a pair of Mirage OMD-28s. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
velociti

Showing 1 response by kurt_tank

Well, to be honest, I pretty much agree with the others that you should consider swapping out the Krell for something a little less, well, Krellish. (Krell is very resolving, and sounds very much like solid state. Very well done solid state, but solid state nonetheless.) If you really don't want tubes, and really want to stick with solid state, I recommend trying the Ayre integrated amp. Ayre's house sound while not tubey, is less solid state sounding than the Krell is. (However, to get Ayre to sound its best, you'll need to run balanced cables.)

And if you insist on merely upgrading your speakers, I recommend the Sonus Faber Cremona. It is pretty much full range, and definitely is very musical, although it does give up a bit of resolution when compared to the Dynaudio line of speakers. You'll need to stretch your budget a bit, but not much more. (I found a pair here on Audiogon that is close to your budget, and maybe you can bargain them down a bit.)

Sonus Faber Cremonas for sale here on Audiogon

Good Luck in your search.