Best Loudspeakers for Rich Timbre?

inna,

It is remarkable that many don't understand that cables are components, they are equally important.

Everyone understands cables are a component.  You don't get sound without them, and they have to be matched at least in the most basic sense to the situation in which they will be used (e.g. right length/capacitance, etc).   


The question is, how much does one need to spend in order to pass along a signal with high fidelity?   The answer seems to be: not nearly as much as audiophile lore suggests.

Spending $10 on cables would get anyone nowhere, unless you steal these cables and $10 is your taxi bill.

What then is the lower limit you suggest, and on what grounds?


My speaker cables are Belden, put together by Blue Jeans cable.
If you buy two 6 foot lengths it costs $14.50.  


It seems to me $14 bucks for speaker cable is close enough to your 10 bucks that "would get you nowhere" claim.    And yet my system sounds incredibly good - as good and often better than plenty of the systems with audiophile-approved-cabling I've listened to.  So low cost cable certainly "got me somewhere" quite impressive.  (BTW, the appraisal of my system isn't simply my own,  I've had many audiophiles listen, including friends who review big priced audio gear, who think it sounds fantastic).  


So, I'm afraid your claim doesn't get very far in my experience. 

Triangle Magellan, DeVore, JM Reynaud...

The often neglected subject of timbre in modern designs could be a major factor in explaining why some connoisseurs like Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note casually state that in their opinion audio reproduction has gone backwards in the last half century.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/parttimeaudiophile.com/2018/01/25/peter-qvortrup-high-fidelity-the-de...

They are talking predominantly of the era in which tubes and high efficiently drivers were used both in analogue recording and playback systems. Innumerable lush, tonally rich recordings such as those by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Nat Cole, Peggy Lee, and innumerable Jazz artists still survive today as testament to fabulous recording quality of those times.

The main focus in the modern era often seems geared towards the pursuit of cold fine detail through ever increasing bit rates and oversampling techniques. Impressive in the short term but rarely satisfying in the long. At least for some.

One seems to appeal mainly to the intellect, the other to the heart. It's always difficult to generalise but I think Qvortrup is basically right if you're looking for music reproduction which speaks predominantly to the heart. Generally speaking, I've heard few loudspeakers that employ paper as a cone material which sounded awful, and even fewer that used polypropylene that sounded great.

So many great suggestions here, the Joseph Audio ones being intriguing with their aluminium drivers and the Focal Sopra review which namechecked another metal driver loudspeaker, the fabulously expensive Vivid Audio Giya G2.

Thanks for all the suggestions, it's reassuring to know that timbre has not been forgotten by everyone. 

To echo previous recommendations- you should really hear the Legacy Audio Aeris. I've heard them with tube amps, solid state amps and Class D amps and every time they sound incredible. If you pair it with their Wavelet you can use the tone controls to adjust the speaker's brightness/warmth to your liking- it's really flexible and helpful because you can fine tune them in your room and aren't stuck like you are with most speakers.
Funny enough, the recordings you referenced as tonally rich like Sinatra used Legacy Audio speakers, in addition to Nat King Cole and Elvis.They're simply the most dynamically capable, full range and revealing speaker around, and if you want to hear the real timbre on those recordings, it will show you!