Time to move UP, speaker-wise...


My vandersteen 2ci’s dropped dead after a couple decades of sweet service. Over the past year, I’ve had mixed success with a pair of reference premier Klipsch speakers, but now I’m wanting something a far more subtle, perhaps a touch more sweet, and definitely able to reveal more sound-field information. Perhaps I’m being redundant... I’ve been intrigued by the open baffle concept and I’ve read some reviews on Spatial Audio products as well as Tekton’s open baffle offering. There are fans of the spatial, and then I discovered there are people that are blown away by the Tekton open baffle design. Tekton is also running a special on the Electron SE @$3000, which I feel inclined to try... Another area of interest is the Ohm speaker lineup... can any of you speak to them, and particularly how they compare to Klipsch Heritage speakers, or open baffle designs, or Tekton's...?

I have to say, I’m die-hard for the musical information, for the layers of musical fabric. Wolf_garcia claims the heresy III is the best $1500 he ever spent, in a discussion addressing open-baffle designs, among others, and so I’m wondering where to put my bills... What should I check out? It’s time to move up. I’m thinking $3300 is about my limit... I’m running 80 watts per channel from the nuforce sta200, a schitt saga pre, Cambridge transport.
listening99
I am enjoying the journey, and so here's an update... after more hours than I want to admit, I've made a decision. The Tekton Moabs. Yes, the ring of "please please please" make sure to listen to them before buying was in my ears and yet I don't have a reasonable way to make that happen at this stage in the game. What I did accomplish was three talks with the six moons reviewer of the Moab, who has also reviewed most of the speakers in the Tekton line-up. He's also a fan of CODA amplification, as well as ARIC amps/pre-amps. He purchased the top end Tekton flagship model, the Ulfberht, but claimed the Moabs are perhaps better in many applications. The somewhat novel technology (numerous small weight drivers 'tuned' in consideration for the moving mass of possible instruments) makes some kind of sense to me, but not as much as the crossover design and time symmetry of the Vandersteen made sense to me, back when I bought the 2ce's in my 20's. I keep looking at other speakers in contrast to the Moabs and I find the "lack of risk" factor that I DO NOT find in the Moab. They cut something of an edge, both as unusually tall and wide, which must convert into soundstage impact. Four twelves, aimed in my general direction, for example. THIRTY, highly tuned tweeters, aimed at my face, for instance. There will be drivers come up from below, coming down from above, all in one package, standing 69" tall. Someone called the 2ci's polite and I think that's right, and I also think that while I was often impressed by the clarity of the 2ce soundstage, and I would find myself sizing up things within the sound field, there was definitely a sense of removal, of NOT being there. I want to "BE" there, with the musical event, for a NOT insane price, but a touch nutty.  

Just this last weekend, I sat in a jazz club, on the coast, THE SOUND WAVES COMING OFF THE cymbals were pure... 

By the way: anyone have an appliance dolly, I can borrow.?. Moab weights - 135lb each.


If for whatever reason the Moabs don’t do it for you, the Spatial M5/M3 Sapphires would be worth a look and offer a 60-day return policy.  Best of luck with the Moabs.