Best Loudspeakers for Rich Timbre?


I realise that the music industry seems to care less and less about timbre, see
https://youtu.be/oVME_l4IwII

But for me, without timbre music reproduction can be compared to food which lacks flavour or a modern movie with washed out colours. Occasionally interesting, but rarely engaging.

So my question is, what are your loudspeaker candidates if you are looking for a 'Technicolor' sound?

I know many use tube amps solely for this aim, but perhaps they are a subject deserving an entirely separate discussion.
cd318
I recently went on the search for the perfect speaker, and the ability to capture the natural rich sound (timbre) of an acoustic instrument was one of my priorities. I home auditioned 15 speakers (review here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/a-brief-review-of-15-high-end-speakers-on-home-demo-including...
and found some well-loved brands lacking in this area. The two which really shone in the reproduction of a natural rich timbre were the Sonus Faber and the Boenicke. I ended up purchasing the Boenicke. Interestingly Sven Boenicke, the designer, records live concerts of small classical ensembles, and one of the aims of his designs is to have a speaker which reproduces that natural sound of the instrument which he tries to capture in the recording.  I find with my Boenicke even the troublesome violin is rendered perfectly. 

I also heard the Joseph speakers in the Munich HiFi show. They were excellent too. Jazz was being played (isn’t it always at HiFi shows?!) from a reel to reel via an Alluxity amp. It sounded wonderful.
@fleschler 
I have the Magico A3 in my system for over a month now. I listen to many speakers before I chose the A3. Some of the contenders were the Wilson Sabrina the Dynaudio Contour 60 and Confidence 2 and the Focal Sopra 2. I don’t like Harbeth they are too warm, with very bad resolution ( I am a musician, and do a lot of recording, I need to hear what was recorded, not added noise from the loudspeakers). Apparently like coloration and noise, all the speakers you mentioned are extremely colored.

I've heard various Wilsons in stores, and their overall character always seemed to me to be summed up in the adjective: relentless.  And not in a good way.  I haven't heard the Sabrinas, and from everything I've read, it really seems as if these are voiced rather differently.

BTW, I recently auditioned the 40.2's and was blown away by them (in a good way).  They immediately vaulted to the top of my shortlist.

@david_ten , I think the life of us audiophiles is like one long exercise in self-critique. Forums like this could almost be loosely termed as a self help group!

Audiophiles do mainly tend to be men, but there are no barriers of age, race, occupation or income. Just a common pursuit of personal sonic ecstasy.

Of course we can be an impressionable and sensitive lot. I intensely dislike my Hi-Fi being criticised, although I’m not as bad as I used to be. But you can also easily say the same for many car owners.

I try to take the impressions of fellow enthusiasts far more seriously than any magazine reviewer because they generally seem to ring more truer, and feel more real world.

I bet its almost impossible to be completely neutral as a paid reviewer because of all the industry politics and various vested interests. Designers and manufacturers probably feel hyper sensitive to any criticism. If I was in their shoes, I know that I would. All that time, effort and money invested.

I am still slightly puzzled as to why Magico speakers don’t get a universal thumbs up, the way say for example DeVore do. Alon Wolf seems to be far too meticulous in his approach as to not have canvassed a wide range of opinion before unleashing his products. Speaking as someone who has never heard a pair I wonder whether it’s something to do with that aluminium cabinet or the graphene drivers?

Still, enormous credit to Alon, and all the other designers out there trying to push the sonic barriers back further and further.



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