speakers for classical music

I assume that by "classical music", you are referring to symphonic music. You need a very good full-range speaker (backed by superb electronics) to have any hope of reproducing the sound of a symphony orchestra, while non-piano chamber music can be handled properly by good monitor speakers.

Speakers that will be used for symphonic music need to have enormous headroom to handle the scale and volume of a large orchestra (few speakers are able), and need to be voiced correctly in the mid's and upper-mid's so as not to mess up the sound of strings (few are).

E-mail me if you want specific suggestions.

Check out the Vandersteen line from the 3A sigs on up to the 5A sigs. Magnificent full range speakers that handle all types of classical music well. I pair my 3A sigs with a Cary SLP-05 preamp and Cary 211 AE monoblocks and the results are fantastic.

For orchestral, Tannoy 215 DMT II is the best I've heard.

I have to say that demos at shows by Richard Shahinian of the Diapasons with classical music were extremely convincing. The sound really captured the majesty and weight of the orchestra. I never really heard anything that equalled what they could do in that way. For ordinary box speakers, I would say Harbeth Monitor 40, or not as good, Spendor SP100.

I love most kinds of music, but listen to tons of classical. (Symphonic, like Mahler's 6th last weekend, chamber, wind ensembles, solo piano, solo cello, etc.) I play trumpet in regional community orchestras and lead trumpet in a big band, as well as rhythm guitar in big band. I attend tons of live concerts and probably listen to 2-channel 10-hours per week.

My favorite speakers are by Vienna Acoustics. They've got speakers in almost all price ranges. The bargain of the bunch, as far as being full-range and floor-standing, is the Beethoven Baby Grands for $3500. (I own these). If you've got a large enough room and budget, then the Mahlers are incredible.

The VAs are very dynamic, tonally balanced and transparent. My little Baby Grands are only down about 4dB at 31Hz and very smooth in the 20 to 200 hz response. There's no ugly high end peak from the wonderful silk dome tweeter, so even old string recordings sound very nice.

BTW, they'll slam when it comes to listeng to jazz, funk, rock and soul as well. Still, one of the biggest wake up calls you can receive is in the 4th movement of Mahler's 6th when the whole double-percussion section hits everything they've got coming out of a ppp section. I almost fell over backward. It was like being on stage.

Dave