Speaker recommendation for married couple

(((She does not like when the vocals make that "TISSSSS" sound where it scratches your ears. She also likes good bass, more than I do for sure.)))

This is typical of many loudspeakers with a steep order crossover which causes a pre and post ring on transits with excessive sibilants not to mention removing parts of the music's timing.

 This is why many live recordings sound great with Cans yet loose it with
conventional  steep order box speakers.

In a well executed phase and time correct design most find obvious music's fundamental are in proper sync with overtones and harmonics.

This and other factors work to preserve the recordings whole venue instead of bits & pieces.
In listening to a 6 DB per octave phase and time correct design you experience dimensionality and preserve the lost time in the music while negating unwanted pre and post ringing that most women and men are very sensitive to.
Best,
 JohnnyR

Where are you geographically?

E

With 6 foot ceilings, you may have a lot of unwanted reflection from that source.

I have 7 foot ceilings, and I solved the problem by putting in a lattice of 1x3's, which are 0.75 inch thick strips of wood, in 1 foot by 2 foot rectangles. In addition to taming reflections, it gives an interesting and finished look to the place.

Thanks guys!

I will try to answer most of your questions/comments. And if I miss some, I am sorry.

I did mention the budget in my second post, $2000 used. Demo speakers are fine too. Just don't like to buy luxury items new.

Very good question:) We are currently in Europe. I can listen to pretty much every brand from Elac to Rockport, PSB to Magico.

I thought exactly like you did! I thought let me go by what she likes most as long as I am happy too. Almost wanted to end the search with the LS50 but we still want to listen to more speakers.

As I mentioned before the ceiling is all wood. No concrete. And my friend measured it with his mic/minidsp and found the acoustics pretty good actually. He was surprised too.

Thanks again guys!

Notes from the wife :)

Thanks everyone for the input! I really do leave these decisions to my audio geek - he can have whatever he wants and I just want him to be happy. Unfortunately for him, he has a burning urge to pass it through me for approval because he thinks I have better ears 😂

I want to feel the music in my bones, I want to feel like I can close my eyes and am listening to it live. The full reverberation of the bass, the nuances in the metal strings of an acoustic guitar. The sibilance in vocals just grates my ears. I basically want to sit in the 1980s Maxell poster and be blown away.

I don't particularly remember the Sonus Fabers except that they were very expensive 😂

The KEF LS50, it's tiny and aesthetic perfection (imho). We've listened a few times. It's a very tight and clean sound, bass is pretty damn good (even better supplemented with a sub), but perhaps not as natural in the vocals for me to be blown away. Not as warm as I'd prefer.

Harbeths, I cannot pinpoint it, but I just didn't feel it. I felt like it was a simple speaker, and it just felt flat. Definitely a warm sound but I just didn't feel the power in the vocals. I think the lows drowned the sound.

So, I guess I am looking for warmth and bass, detail in mids, and no/low sibilance in vocals.