A pair of Buchardt S400s on a nice pair of stands would be a great sounding speaker. As far as sound quality goes you won't find a better speaker that is as compact as the S400s, a little bigger that a shoe box with great bass and wide sound stage. Go on youtube and check out all the rave reviews.
WAF Speaker suggestions
I am looking to replace my current speakers and need advice. I currently have a pair of Vandersteen 2ce sig speakers that my wife says look like coffins in the living room. I love my wife more than the Vandys and so am looking for replacement speakers. I need a smaller footprint speaker to make her happy and I would like a speaker that has a sound that is less laid back than the Vandys.
New or used speakers are fine. My budget is $2000-$2500. Listening room is the living room (15ftX20ft with 15ft cathedral ceiling.) I listen mostly to jazz, classical, and blues. Equipment is a Classe CP-800 preamp, Classe CT-2300 amp, TEAC CD-P650 used as a transport, and a Macbook for streaming music.
My research has lead me to the smaller footprint Dynaudio and Focal speakers but I do not know how well these speakers pair with the Classe amp and preamp.
Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
New or used speakers are fine. My budget is $2000-$2500. Listening room is the living room (15ftX20ft with 15ft cathedral ceiling.) I listen mostly to jazz, classical, and blues. Equipment is a Classe CP-800 preamp, Classe CT-2300 amp, TEAC CD-P650 used as a transport, and a Macbook for streaming music.
My research has lead me to the smaller footprint Dynaudio and Focal speakers but I do not know how well these speakers pair with the Classe amp and preamp.
Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
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- 60 posts total
... check into vintage, or new (probably out of your price range) Gershman Avant Garde speakers: small footprint (12" x 12"), under 3' tall pyramidal-shaped full range floorstanders. They have a disappearing act: Very high WAF, even with grills off; big sound with robust bass... Search a pair of these out and never need to go looking again... |
Most of the speakers mentioned in this thread are just square boxes. If you like your current speakers sound keep them because other than the Sonus and the higher end B&W’s that was mentioned, they all look the same. Sonus will have a darker sound than the other speakers especially with warm sounding Classe equipment and the B&W’s will sound better because of your warmer Classe. IMO, if you want great sound and the looks of a quality piece of furniture, check out the Usher 8571’s, BE10’s, or the lower priced Mini Dancer II’s. |
The European speakers with a very well-regarded sound and the non-disputed king of WAF is the Boenicke. I am not sure whether they appear on the second hand US market but if they did the W5 or W8 model might reach your budget. Don’t be put off by their diminutive size: they have a sound which implies a box twice the size. My wife loves ours. Here’s a picture: http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/boenicke-w8-floorstanding-loudspeaker |
Rbstehno, Op never said he was looking for exotic looking speakers, only for good sounding ones that look better than his speakers that wife considers ugly. Op also said in initial post that Focal or Dynaudio (both fairly normal speaker looking) were two that would meet his criteria, and later suggested in response to me that he liked Spendor on my short list. Again, not exotic looking but for whatever reason apparently must meet OP’s definition of waf acceptable |
- 60 posts total