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Speaker Choice: Narrowed down, need final opinions

Hi All,

I had a few posts trying to narrown down my choices for high quality, small to midsize floorstanders. As a bit of background I have downscaled from B&W Matrix 801 Series 3 which were too big for me, so I needed to dowscale in size but I do not want to lose in terms of quality. Here are all the details I can think of, if there is anything else which may help please let me know.

I have 2 options now, one of which is the Elac speakers: either the 207.2 or preferably the 208.2. Has anyone got these or heard them somewhere? What were your thoughts? . I also enjoy a decent amount of bass and that is why I would prefer the 208.2, but has anyone heard the 207.2? How is their bass extensions? (by the way the 209.2 is out of my budget)

My other choice is the Monitor Audio Gold Reference 60's ( can get at a fantastic price). I know I won't have a problem with bass with those. In the mids and highs though, is their quality comparable to that of the Elac's, and/or the 801 S3's? My previous options (now ruled out) were the Revel F30's which I could only afford second hand and the pair is now sold, and the Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home which unlike the previous Grand Piano's are not biwireable and I do not want to replace/alter my cables.

Associated Equipment:
-Bryston 4B-ST Amplifier
-Electrocompaniet EC 4.5 Preamp
-Kimber KCAG interconnects
-Zu Cable Wax biwire speaker cable
-Shanling CD-T100 CD Player

Room:
-fairly large (about 35ft x 14ft, but divided into 2 by an arch so my room is effectively 17.5ft x 14ft)
-long wall setup
-speakers around 8-9ft apart and listener about 8ft to each speaker

Thanks for the help,
X
xenithon
drrdiamond
671 posts
 
Sorry to give another suggestion that you didn't ask for, but since your previous speakers were B&W:

A friend of mine in the high end audio business just traded in his B&W800N signatures (with a Rel sub) for the 805N signatures (with same sub) and prefers it in a big way!
There is an excellent pair of the 805N sigs on audiogon today.

Richard
xenithon OP
130 posts
 
Hi There,

Thanks for the suggestion but I am not really looking for a standmount/sub combo. I would only consider a floorstander right now.

Cheers,
X
rsbeck
887 posts
 
Of all the speakers mentioned, the N803's would be my choice, if you can swing it. They are another step up the $$$ ladder. I've never heard the original Sonus Faber Grand Pianos, so I cannot compare them to the Homes, but did spend a day auditioning Sonus Faber against B & W. To my ears, I preferred the Grand Piano Homes over everything in the B & W line until I got to the N803's and then I preferred the N803's. Of course, the N803's are quite a bit more than the Piano Homes. Speakers are such a personal preference. You really should try to get out and audition everything within your price range. If you choose a speaker with only one set of terminals, you can always double your bi-wires or have them re-terminated. I don't see that as a problem.
xenithon OP
130 posts
 
Hi There,

Well the N803's are out of the question. They are way out of my budget. As I stated earlier, unfortunately prices vary tremendously from US/EU countries so some products cost roughly the same as overseas and some cost as much as double (different importers, different markups etc.). Also, a few of the choices I have are dealer demos at great price, such as the GR-60's, which would normally be out of budget.

About the speaker with single wire terminals: I really do not want to change my speaker cable. It is the Zu Cable Wax Biwire. This is not available here and was a special import, so sending it back for retermination is not an option really. They are banana plugs all round and that's the problem (can't connect two bananas to a terminal). However I am trying to find a banana to spade adaptor, since then I could connect the cable properly by connecting two spades per terminal. The only problem is finding such an adapter - do you know of any?

Now looking at single-wire speakers, it does not really open up more options unfortunately. Many of the speakers are simply too expensive here, such as the Audio Physic, Vienna Accoustics, Dynaudio. These are single-wire speakers but are hellishly expensive here for some reason, much more than overseas. Others I can look at are the new SF Grand Piano Home (the old versions are not available anywhere). Would those be better than something like the Elac 209 or Monitor Audio GR-60 (my current 2 options).

Thanks for the help,
X
rsbeck
887 posts
 
If you buy used, you can probably get a pair of N803's for about the same price as new F-30's, Homes, or GR-60's.
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