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$1000-$2000 Floor-standing speakers for larger room w/NAD 326bee

I’m looking for a set of floor-standing speakers for our main listening room. They will be 2 channel music only. They need to be "cat safe" (no fabric on front, or removable grills), able to fill a larger room (20x15 with vaulted ceiling) with decent volume (typical max listening level is 85-90db but a lot of listening is at low volume as well) and efficient enough for a NAD326BEE. Budget is ~$1000-$2000 for the pair. My old speakers in the room were open baffle design (Hawthorne Audio Duets) and I did like the relatively open sound stage they provided. I may move them to a different room or just sell them (they’re too wide for our current configuration in the room and they aren’t too high on the "cat safe" scale). I have a couple of Polk TSi400’s in the room now as "placeholders" until I decide on a permanent pair. Minimum distance between speakers is about 8-10 feet and listening position is about 10 feet from the speakers. The speakers will need to be within about of the wall behind them. The floor is carpeted.

Music is a mix of Jazz, Classic Rock and Classical and sources are turntable and streaming from a Roon server. I live in the Atlanta metro area and

I’ve been out of the speaker hunting game for a while so any suggestions would be very much appreciated!
ruleof72
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
This whole cat thing made me start thinking.  You may not be able to get the sound that you want if the grills are a big deal.  maybe you can.  I think with Maggies, I'd be freaked out as the grill is the whole speaker panel.  If the cat touches those, he could potentially ruin the whole speaker.  Could he or she get into the perforations on the ML and hurt him/herself or the speaker?  Maybe not, but just made me think, lol.  
this is an interesting thread to say the least.
axememan's avatar
axememan
279 posts
 
Tekton..Pendragons.Electrons ,Impacts,Enzos,Lores etc..
64voxac30
11 posts
 
My room and listening dimensions are very similar to yours. I found a fantastic deal on fully upgraded Tekton Pendragon's for $1,800 barely pre-owned.  They are plenty loud enough with my 8 watt SET amp and sound amazing.

Tekton's frequently show up on the used market at prices that are low risk if they weren't your cup of tea.
ruleof72 OP
26 posts
 
joshelston-Thanks for the lead on the Elos, they look interesting.

@kenm10759- The KEF are over my budget new but I bet I can find used within the budget. Thanks for the suggestion.

@redbaron The ML look great, except I think they will look even "greater" to our cats!

@axememan and @64voxac30 - I have considered Tektons, especially the Lore and Enzo models.

So many possibilities out there, but keep the suggestions coming. Now I need to get some listening in!
jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller
1,430 posts
 
A couple notes on the PSB Imagine option.

I have the Imagine T2.  The grils are metal, which is a fine feature.  I ordered a back up set from PSB because I switched out the grill cloth on one set to off white--for WAF.  On the white set I made I painted the metal grill white.  The takeaway here is that even if the cat got after the grill cloth you could always consider removing the grill cloth--the cat may not like the metal.  

In any event, the curved small surface area of the grill is slim and may not be attractive to the cat in the first place (i.e. there's not much surface area inviting the cat).  Also, Lenbrook (the parent company of NAD and PSB) has great customer service and stocks replacement parts.  I know this firsthand as I just received my backup set of grills from them. 

With regard to recommendations,  folks have given you many good ones.  I'm very happy with my T2s.  They are out of your budget new, but you could find a pair used right within the top of your budget.  You may want to consider this as an option because the T2s are a real contender (Stereophile recommended) and they might give you room to upgrade other stuff in the future.  

With respect to build quality, the photos online do not really show how nice the T2s (or T3s--I've demoed those too) look in person.  They are in the league of Focal and BMW.  

And finally, the T2s are big on WAF in my house.  My wife comes from the interior design field and these made a small shortlist of acceptable loudspeakers in my house.  They are super slim and their profile doesn't overwhelm the room.  The Tektons, for example, didn't work for my WAF as they are pretty boxy and un-elegant--in my opinion. 

I won't address sound unless you want me to.  I'll say this the T2s are superb and do many things right and nothing wrong.  

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