Which speakers to be ''in'' the music?


Hey everyone, I started my journey not so long ago and tried different entry level models of brands such as Triangle, Paradigm and Monitor Audio. Right now I listen to a pair of Vandersteen 2ce Sig II which do a lot of good things for me. But what I want is not for the music to be laid out in front of me, clearly organized, I want to be IN the music, I want depth and verticalilty, good imaging but I don’t need super precise or realistic soudstage. I listen to all sorts of music but mainly Jazz, classical and electronic music. Which brand of speakers would have such philosophy? Due to covid it’s really hard to organize listening session so I would like to have some insights before booking appointments. My budget for the next pair will be around 7.5K usd, so kind of entry/mid level still. Any suggestions?

I am french, so sorry for the clunky english.

Best regards,

Maurice
maurice89
Wide dispersion is a great way to maximize room interaction and is way more often as not a big mistake. I can't help thinking that what you are looking for is headphones but I think this is most likely a distortion of translation. 

Point source speakers such as you are listening to have miniature sound stages. They put you way back in the concert hall. Line source speakers give you a large soundstage and put you right up front which is what I think you mean.

There is one speaker in your price range that is a line source dipole which will meet your request beautifully and that is the Magneplanar 3.7i. This speaker may qualify as the single best value in all of Hi Fi dom. It has a few weaknesses which you should be aware of up front. They like power. They are an easy load but are just not very efficient. Tube amps will work fine but you will need 100 watts/ch. Even with a lot of power you can not expect them to hit the volume levels regular dynamic speakers do but they will go plenty loud enough for the music you like. They are not a good speaker for metal maniacs. They do not go super low down but few speakers do. If you want to shake the neighborhood you will need subwoofers. What bass is there is superbly defined and they give percussion a snap missing from most speakers. They have arguably the best tweeter ever made.

Most other speakers are just more of the same. When you listen to these you will know you are listening to very different loudspeakers. Listen to these first and you probably won't even bother listening to anything else so save them for last. Have fun and good luck!
I am not going to belabor others points above.  Yep.  

Check out Raidho.  They deliver a massive and immersive soundstage.  Even speakers as small as the X-1s assuming your room is setup correctly.  Scansonic does this as well, just not quite as effectively (same company).  I enjoy their stand-mounts with a subwoofer.  

Audiovector - has a rear firing tweeter in their smaller (R1 and R3) models.  This offer a wonderful experience.  You ought to be able to find the older RS 3 model in this range.  

Magnepan, Martin Logan or other electrostat/planar panels.  The only thing to note is these like power and depending on the speaker, amp matching can be interesting.  Magnepan is warm and like brighter SS amplification.  Martin Logan is cold and needs neutral to warm amplification.  

The ultimate speaker for this experience is MBL.  I doubt you will find one used in that price range.  
You definitely need to listen to at least one brand of omnidirectional loudspeaker, to discover if this is, generally speaking, the kind of effect that you are looking for.

+1 for Magnepans

My 2 cents:

Their SQ / $$ ratio seems very high.  Driving them with 220W per channel, the soundstage and imaging is impressive.   

They sound OK anywhere in the room, but when you get in the sweet spot, the music transforms into 3 dimensions if it was recorded well.  The speakers need a lot of air around them, they need about 4 feet from any wall.  

I have only auditioned these against B&W and Goldenear, and we all know there are better sounding speakers out there.  From what I have auditioned and researched,  they are hard to beat for the price.


The brand that is always true to the music and gives most of bang for buck  is Totem from Montreal . At least of the hundred I have tried .