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Best bookshelf speakers <$2000

I’m building my first high fi system after being more of a portable audio person. I want to start with the speakers. Space is limited so bookshelf speakers are a must.

Preferences:
Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth.
Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows
Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz
But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music
Smaller is better but SQ is most important
A speaker that sounds good with different amps but also scalable with high quality sources
Wide sweet spot - I wont have money for a great amp at first but want them to be scalable for later

These speakers have caught my eyes - any thoughts on them?

Ascend Sierra 2s - Ribbon = dispersion limitations?
BMR Philharmonitor - See above. Also massive.
Buchardt S400/S300 - Wary of the sudden hype train and limited info
Silverline Minuet Grande - Limited info
Reference 3A De Capo - This caught my eye as a potential endgame speaker if I could blow up my budget a little. But concerns about BE tweeter as well as some potential snake oil stuff (cryogenic treatment (!?)), exaggerated sensitivity claims and wonky measurements put me off.

What else should I be looking at?

Edit: I could have sworn I had <$2,000 in the title... Anyway, my budget is 2k.

stuff_jones
Post removed 
erik_squires
16,594 posts
 
FTR: Wilson used not only Focal, but also a lot of Scanspeak. Some of the most expensive commercial speakers I know of use Scanspeak including B&O, Wilson, and Gryphon. Magico uses Scanspeak tweeter motors with custom diaphragms.

Fritz uses a whole lot of Scanspeak. :)

Best,
E
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,320 posts
 
Look at this new make/model, playing at the recent CAF.

Recognize the mid-bass driver??

http://qln.se/prestige-three/
gsm18439
895 posts
 
@cd318

I have three pairs of speakers. Rogers LS3/5a in one bedroom (15ohm versions). Celestion SL700 in my master bedroom. And Zu Def4 in my living room. All three are great. I understand your concern that the drivers in the LS3/5a have never been updated; but sometimes a classic is a classic, and there were several versions manufactured by Rogers. The Celestion and Zu speakers best the LS3/5a in many ways. But given the OPs preferences, criteria, and limitations, I would put the LS3/5a on any shortlist.
towertone's avatar
towertone
82 posts
 
I don't have experience with any of the speakers mentioned save for the KEF LS50. I was very pleased with them in a small listening area but needed more low-end. I had considered the KEF R300 but caught the LS50 on sale (back then) for $300 off making them $500 cheaper than the R300, which you can now get for around $1300.00. 
I also think the R300 (in walnut) look very nice. 

On another note, I have an ancient pair of Jensen bookshelf speakers with 8" woofers that sound incredible, so you just never know....
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