Speaker Recommendations for Soundstage and Imaging

06-30-09: Tbg
I am not saying you don't get imaging with arrays, only not the best imaging. Little two ways will handially beat them.

The Thiel 1.6 goes that one better by having a concentric, phase-aligned midrange and tweeter assembly, supplemented by a small woofer nearby, for a true point source for most of the range and a pretty close approximation for the lower frequencies.

Thank you everyone for the recommendations. I've been doing research on many of the suggested models. I think I've narrowed it down to two - the Gallo 3.1 and the Thiel 1.6 - based on my priorities and room characteristics (or limitations). Although one of the Totem column speakers may also enter the mix.

I would have to agree with Dave b above. I've had box speakers for 40+ years. 8 months ago, bought the Magnepan 1.6 speakers and never looked back. They're simply fantastic.

If you want sounstage & imaging you CANT beat a Magnepan 1.6 for under 2k. Nothing's close in that ball park. The 1.6's will make you think the center & rears are on, and I am NOT exaggerating one bit. You would however have to accept its large, yet extremely thin size, and not to use a sub is a HUGE mistake with any speaker, including the 1.6's. If you can do this, you will have exactly what your looking for in a speaker times 10 fold. 3 ft from the front wall isnt hard considering the speakers are under 2 inches thick. I find 34-40 inches to be perfect, not 10ft like some people. They also excell in small rooms, and sound great at nearfield listening. James Tanner (Bryston president) also stated this himself. Dont be affraid to use the high tonal controll on your prepro, and bump it down a db or 2. It does wonders. You can also use a resistor, but in the end I chose to roll them off -2db.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I've started researching some of them. As for the Maggies, I've long been interested in them, but they fail the WAF test in my household.The listening room for this rig is about 19 x 15. HOWEVER, the speakers will be up pretty close against the wall on the 15 foot side and about 8 feet apart. Listening chair will be about 8-9 feet from the speakers, about halfway into the room. My amp will be an Ayre AX7e.

PERFECT room for the 1.6's! 3ft from the front wall(same as most speakers & these are only 2 inches thick making it easy). Sitting 8-9ft is ideal. And leaves you a few feet behind you if you wish to pull your chair out for critical listening, so you can avoid rear wall reflections/bass spikes. It also leaves the side walls far away from the speakers(assuming there along the long wall), so they wont cause blur effects to the detail & imaging. Magnepan use the front wall for its required delayed reflections.

After owning top end speakers for years, I had to move to under a 2k speaker myself a few months back. The 1.6's were the only thing I could live with. Everything else sounded small,compact,etc. I still recommend a sub, they can be hid directly behind the speakers, as its just dead space up to 19" or so anyway(where the panel starts).