A litlle help for choice of speakers up to €5500 (used or new)


Hi folks. 

In advance I need to say that I am truly gratfull to be among you and learn with you all about this most passionate area of audio/hi fi. 

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Now, what brings me here today is a request for your help in an area so important to me. The purchase of loudspeakers. Perhaps the most important element of a system. And at this point I feel a little lost before the many choices and options available (nationally and internationally, new or used).

Having this budget available, I would like your precious help in choosing speakers within those values above.

The ideal objective would be to reconcile two worlds to which I very much identify myself in audio ...

I love a good mid range but also feel intrinsically need to have good bass that make me feel like "completely filling the room" (correctly, of course) with a full bodied sound.

I'm not referring to the bass of "impress your friends", but deep bass, dark, correct on the timbre and tonally that permits you to connect fully with the music.

The listening room is of an average apartment, by European standards. It has 35m2 and with good acoustics.

Previously (giving a bit of my experience to better situate the intended objective) I had some portuguese handmade speakers, skillfully built with many units and sealed box, that gave me years of pleasure with very good high and low frequencies. But I needed a little more presence in the mid-range and so I decided to change radically... 

I ended up buying from a friend the Harbeth Super HL5 loudspeaker, which I knew well as a regular at his home. From all my audio experience were the loudspeakers that sounded better at this level of the midrange. I've never heard voices so naturally and realistically. But not only. The whole mid range is fabulous.  

But nevertheless, ... I missed the bass I had previously with its predecessors. They were tonally correct basses that made me thrill more about music (I'm lucky that the setup room does not accuse the bass very much. So I can choose speakers with a significant bass). Both things are quite important to me. 

Now, the goal would be to get and reconcile both things, of course. Among all the other normal features we all look for in very good loudspeakers.

An important detail is also the need to choose a model / brand / topology that allows me to have the freedom to play loud but also to play a low levels of sound. Not all speakers allow minimum quality at low / medium volumes.

As a result, I sold the current Harbeth Super HL5 and am a buyer of something I'm not sure what ... so many models, brands and topologies.

I can buy new or used and even internationally if necessary (in Portugal post-crisis, many of the good audio stores have fallen and some others do not give the necessary support).

As amplification, I have an integrated tube amplifier. It's a JJ828 from JJ Electronics. A Push Pull with 75wt channel-separated current transformers with 8 KT88 Genelec Gold Lion tubes.

I had previously a Lavardin IT that many hours (years) of pleasure gave me, but after knowing and testing this model of JJ, I was taken with its quality and conquered me to the point of having replaced Lavardin IT.

Not relevant I think, but as sources, I have a Primare CD31 CD player, a Portuguese hand-held turntable manufactured by artisan Rui Borges (Rui Borges UNO MKII) and a M2Tech Young DAC for hi res files.

The phono units are more than one, depending on the type of music I want to hear.

Sorry for the long text, just wanted to leave you everything you need for a better help.

Once more and in advance, thankyou for all.

Miguel



lcarpediem
Thank you very much to all of you.

For now I would not be lured into going to the subwoofer solution.

I do not want to be confined to existing brands in Portugal, I can order internationally (new or used).

For that, I have the peculiarity of having to resort to loudspeakers that allow me to listen to various types of music. From classic rock (70 'and 80' mostly), to classical, to jazz (in its various subgenres), blues, alternative and even world music.

The dimensions of my listening room where the sound system is inserted, are - as I had referred - 35m2 (5x7).

Since always - and given the constraints (not many) of a normal living room - I have had the speakers a meter and a half from the back wall. But the acustics have been good enough all over the years.

By the sides I have no problems at all.

I can send photos of the place if necessary.

Thank you one more time.

@lcarpediem  

That's a very healthy proportioned room for audio performance (5m by 7m is roughly 16ft by 23ft, for us non-metric types). 

I'm assuming the speakers are setup with the shorter wall behind them(?).  The fact that you can have your speakers out from the walls is great; also really nice having a room that is acoustically "good." Choices will work easier but with the resulting downside in having more options. : )

I auditioned the Harbeth HL5Plus at length. You have a terrific speaker as a comparative reference to beat.
If you get lucky, you can purchase a 2nd hand pair of Wilson Audio Sophia series 2 for your target price.  I have an audiophile friend in Lisbon, and a serious audio enthusiast in Porto. Imacoustica is a great resource of course, but I am not aware of their offerings on the used market.

The Sophia 2’s have great midrange, the  high resolution detail that Wilson speakers are known for, and ample bass.   Your amplifier can handle four ohm load, so that works. The 70 W output is a touch on the light side, but should work fine since your room is not very large.

 I realize that many users of this forum have a tendency to recommend their own equipment to other people. I am guilty of that at this very moment! However both friends that I mentioned in Portugal have Wilson speakers! One, the modest cub. The other, Sasha series 2. The Sophia 2’s are the finest speakers  that I’ve ever owned, I’m very pleased with them, and I can enthusiastically  recommend them. 

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/full-range-2017-12-19-speakers


Try to demo some ProAcs.  They have also have a great midrange, but portray a little more excitement top and bottom than Harbeths.  They're good at various listening levels and known to pair well with tubes.  It looks like they do have a dealer/distributor in Porto and Lisboa.

https://www.imacustica.pt/pt/marcas/proac/