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
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.
Say your room dimensions please? Describe the room openings? How many and locations?
The room is about 20 by 10 feet, with the speakers on the long wall. That long wall has doorway to a small room on the
right (usually open) and another larger opening on the left
to a hallway.

|-Hallway----------LEFTSPKR------------RIGHTSPKR----DOOR--|
[20 feet wall to wall]

D
O
O
R
Try to hear some VMPS speakers if you can....what ever model fits your room?.....probably RM-30's.

The VMPS are hybrids....easy to drive, great bass....and near-field friendly.