Speaker suggestions:long-wall, somewhat nearfield.


I sit 7-feet from the front of the speakers, and leave
about 2 or 2.5 feet from the back of the speaker to the wall behind them. There is tons of room to the sides.

I want to avoid piercing highs, boomy-loose bass,
grainy etched vocals,
or too-forward/ringing mids; (basically anything that
would have me recoiling from the sound or causing listening
fatigue, with classical or lesser-quality rock/pop CDs.)

Repeating my main priority: don't want fatigue, even at the
expense of other audiophile goodies.

Wilson Watt Puppy sixes used to be here but vocals were
dry and scratchy and so were strings. Aerial 10Ts were here
and worked pretty well but the bass was a little one-note,
but I could have lived with them long term (they were forgiving on even the worst CDs). Piega P10s had pushy upper bass and lower mids (any bell-like sound gave me a headache). Apogee Stages were pretty wonderful but the woofers broke and couldn't be repaired.

Thinking: Harbeth, SP Tech, Vandersteen 5As, Quad 2805s
but I am open to anything. Budget: under $11K, new or used.

Upstream: Edge NL12.1 amp, Mac C46 pre, EMM SE cdp,
Stealth Indra ICs, Cardas Golden Ref speaker cable.

Thanks again to anyone out there for your kind assistance.
rgs92
Nice setup Rgs92. Looks like the Edge NL 12.1, C46, and Emm CDSA SE should have good synergy.

On your list of loudspeakers to experience, I'm leaning toward Harbeth 40m (used) and Quad 2805s (with REL B3). If you like Vandersteen 5A maybe the Quatro would be a better match for your room.

Not on your list should be...

Sonus Faber Cremona or Cremona M (used. M has different or upgraded tweeter and midrange by Scan-Speak)

Dali 400mk2 (in rosenut finish of course, hard to beat on performance/price ratio)

Zu Presences (the sleeper of the bunch. customize skins and metals, you gain more flexibility in room placement because it's designed to go right up against the wall, and it's highly efficient)

Have you updated your Emm SE with latest software or purchased the new German Transport with isolation feet?

Enjoy auditioning new loudspeakers.
Pierre
Lapierre-Thanks!
No, the EMM has not been updated (and still has the old Phillips xport. Thanks for the new ideas. I will do some research. So you prefer the SF Cremona to the Guenari?
Does the Harbeth RM40 have too much bass?
Would the SHL5 be a better choice? Thanks again
for your comments.