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Speaker recommendation please, please, please

Thanks in advance.

I'm new here, really and a relative noob on the high-end audio.

Looking to upgrade my front speakers for now. My use is probably 60% audio, 40% video. For my wife, you can invert those numbers.

My musical tastes run from Thelonius Monk to the Butthole Surfers. Krautrock, obscure '60's and '70's rock, fusion, jazz, electronica (The Orb, etc.). Very eclectic but mores rock than jazz or electronica. No classical/opera.

My system:
EAD Power Master 5200 5-schannel (300 watts 8ohm)

Musical Fidelity X-ray - the original ovoid design model

Pre-amp Krell - KRC 3

Speakers: B&W Nautilus 805's in the front CDM's in the rear and Nautilus HTM 1 center, Velodyne 12" 1200 watt sub (I forget the model offhand - top of the line 10 years ago as I recall)

For now I'd just like to upgrade the front two speakers. Eventually will upgrade the others as funds allow.

The room is rectangular 30' x 15' x 8' with wood floors

My ceiling to spend is approximately $6k

I'm considering used or new:

Evolution Acoustics MMMicro One
Raidho Eben X-3
Lawrence Audio Violin
Joseph Audio Pulsar
Gallo 3.5 Referance
VMPS RM30

Thoughts?

Anything else I should be looking at?

Auditioning is hard as I live in a very rural area but I could do a day trip to Tampa or Orlando if I could find a dealer for anything I'm looking at, which so far I can't (still working on that though)
seffren
david12
1,454 posts
 
Something nowone has mentioned, integrating any new speakers with your existing BandW speakers. That will be a problem in the meantime.

One suggestion, take advantage of a lot of experience at Rocky Mountain this month. There are pages of reviews on dozens of rooms, mainly concentrating on the speakers, on the Audiocircle show review circle. There is no obvious commercial pressure there, which might lead a paper magazine to favour an advertiser. A lot of very good ideas I have picked up on, that I will try to follow up on, DC10, as already mentioned, Vapor, Odyssey audio. I personally use Daedalus and would very much recommend them, but as Roscoeiii says, people tend to recommend their current speakers, it's second nature.
freediver
1,237 posts
 
O/P.Depth & dimension are referred to as "imaging & sound staging".
The only speakers that I have ever heard personally that truly disappeared were Sonus Faber & Dynaudio HOWEVER both were driven by TUBE Integrated Amplifiers!IMHO you will never achieve truly holographic sound with solid state amplification.While good SS gear can render width & height almost as good as tubes were EVERY SS system I have ever heard fails miserably is in rendering DEPTH.
My reference for judging the ability of a system to render depth is Billy Holiday's Greatest Hits cd.There are 2 tracks that were recorded live in a Big Band Club.The recordings were mic'd in stereo from a distance of apx.20'-30'.When playing these tracks on my previous system(Cayin A-55T Tube Integrated Amplifier & Dynaudio Focus 140 speakers)the back wall of my listening room completely disappeared & you could literally see Miss Holiday 20' back,center stage!
Ask yourself how many of those guitar amps with a 3D like quality you are lookig for are Solid State & how many are Tube driven?I'ld be willing to bet most of them are tube amps.JMHO,good luck.
thankful
223 posts
 
Seffren,

The problem with going and listening to speakers is that you won't know what they sound like in your room and your equipment. I believe we take a chance no matter what we buy unless you are lucky and can have friends bring over their speakers. There are many great speakers in the 6K price range new or used. That being I really like the Von Schweikert line. They are very musical and made with the great parts and are well designed.
toddnkaya
493 posts
 
I would buy the Vapor Cirrus that are for sale here.
Matching stands with cross overs in the base of the stands and crossover upgrades to crossover and tweeter . No long wait either .
mateored
258 posts
 
I auditioned the Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOnes today in fellow member Eddiesudz's impressive listening room. His system and listening environment are in a completely different league than mine, so I'm sure the speakers won't sound as good in my room with my components. That being said, I was immediately impressed with the MMMicros and quickly decided to place an order. I've heard monitors with a more delicate and light and airy high end, but I've never heard speakers of this size have such a full yet clear sound. Ed had them set up right next to the 1300-pound MMTwos, and I had to put my ear next to the speakers to make sure he wasn't trying to trick me. They sound fantastic at all volume levels and can really belt out with his Dartzeel 100wpc amp.

In addition to playing around with some digital tracks on his Mac and Playback Designs DAC, Ed treated me to some great cuts from a test pressing record on his Wave Kinetics turntable, and some great tracks on his Studer 1/4" reel to reel.

Anyway, I never got to audtion a few speakers I was interested in (and I still might buy another pair just to play around and compare in my room), but for $2500 including the nice looking and very solid stands, these seemed like a no-brainer. Ed thinks the speakers will ship in about a month.
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