2. speakers
  3. 1253119327

Speakers in 10-15K price range for Classical music

Well I am in the market for speakers. My music choice is primarily classical and then a little bit of everything else such as jazz and soft/alternate rock. I started with a budget of 5-7K and auditioned Maggie 3.6, Quad 989, Spendor S8e and so on, but quickly realized I couldn’t get what I was looking for in these speakers. They all did pretty well on solo or few instruments but could not nearly reproduce a symphony (Mahler’s fifth, or Tchaikovsky’s sixth or Schubert’s ninth) with any authenticity. This was about a year ago. Since then I had stretched my budget and am now looking for speakers in the 10-15K price range.

Now here’s the challenge. I didn’t like the Thiel, B&W or Wilson sound. I had liked Maggie 20.1 in the past, but can’t find any dealer nearby that carries them for an audition. Heard the Vandersteen 5a for about 10 mins and they are pretty convincing, but I need a proper audition and then it’s still beyond my price range. Now my question is what other speakers I can look at for the kind of music I like?

Thanks much in advance, for your help.

Oh, my system is Krell SACD and 400xi Integrated Amp. Will upgrade the amp eventually, but will need to wait for another year at least :)
neal1502
usblues
1,217 posts
 
Thinking it would do to audition if possible Merlins.They are made for classical as are most of the above also,good luck,Bob
ihcho's avatar
ihcho
612 posts
 
While you were at RMAF, did you check Tyler speakers?
Tyler D1 or D2 may serve your purpose at half the price you are to spend.
neal1502 OP
11 posts
 
Thanks Rpfef, Rcprince, Hjungmd, Knownothing, Nolitan, Jrmanders, Jult52, Karelfd, Rackon, Learsfool, Usblues and Ihcho. I surely will have to check the Shahinians, perhaps even make a trip to NY, along with the other recommendations (ProAc, Harbeth, ART, Totem, Brodmann (future?), Nola, may be horns, Merlin, Tyler etc.)

@ Rcprince – I’ll email you
@ Jult52 – sorry I didn’t have Strauss’ Salome, but Mahler’s Fifth too has a lot of detail and dynamics and like you said, many speakers are incapable of reproducing that
@ Magnumpi205 (Donald) – the show was good, though many manufacturers didn’t participate this time. I have posted my experience in my other thread:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1253679708&openmine&zzNeal1502&4&5#Neal1502
@ Ihcho – no I didn’t check out the Tylers, but there’s someone that lives in my city, so might be able to check it out there
karelfd
476 posts
 
Hi, likely you will have acquired speakers by now, in that case just for information (and for the benefit of anyone doing a search for speakers/classical).
I just returned from the Munich High End show where there were 2 rooms that "transcended" the rest of everything I heard in that they managed to present music as opposed to the others that showed gear performing music - some of which exceptionally good, in honesty.
Those 2 rooms were Tidal and Brodmann.
As you might have expected, Brodmann mainly played classical music (I also heard Rodrigo y Gabriela though, which was delightful) through their flagship speaker in the brand new "Joseph Brodmann" series, the JB 205. This was with Viola Labs amps and a comparatively humble Electrocompaniet EMC1 as source in a room that was certainly not the best acoustically. In one word: astounding! True, the JB 205 is a EUR 56k affair, but I'm pretty sure, the musical gene will be carried forward in the smaller JB models.
Unfortunately, the English pages of their website don't seem to work, nevertheless, here's the link:
http://www.brodmannacoustics.com/index_eng.html
PS: based in Vienna (where else!) they also have s representation in Ferdinand, Indiana.
PPS: this is also a manufacturer to have a serious look at for someone looking for uncompromising AV inwall solutions.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Its what you like that counts!!
More to discover