Best skiinny floorstanders


After 10 years with a pair of Martin Logan Ethos speakers, I'm considering moving back to boxes, box speakers that is.   I'd like to avoid big obtrusive box speakers and am considering some skinny ones in the $8-12k range like the:
Devore Fidelity Super Nines
Boenicke w11s
and...
.... other suggestions

The room - is around 18 by 30, parts with a low ceiling, carpeted, and the wall behind the speakers is books. Serves as gym in the early am when my wife pulls out the rowing machine and turns the tunes up loud, play room for the grandkids in the afternoon and listening room for me in the evenings.

Currently running all tubes but I'm open to changing that up too.
Taste in music - eclectic.

Thanks in advance!
cdc2
Sound characteristics I'm looking for?

Not sure if it's possible but while I love the sound of the Martin Logan's, sense of being there, they lack punch some box speakers seem to have, and my biggest complaint is that while they sound great if your head is in the perfect spot, move your head up or down a foot or move two feet to the side and the sound collapses. Sit on the floor, stand up or move to the side on the couch and the quality of sound goes down dramatically.

Sure I know, I know with most speakers there is a window where they sound best, but even my old Hales Transcendence 1s, still sound good whether I'm sitting on the couch, lying on the floor or walking around v.s. the Martin Logan's only sound great from one very small spot in the room.

I'm looking for speakers, which do a good job in the midrange but also with cymbals and kick drums, string bass, have the you are there wow factor and have a large sweet spot AND decent WAF e.g. skinny.

If need be I'd change amps, let go of the PrimaLuna Prologue Seven Mono blocks I'm currently using.

Thanks for all your suggestions.




How about the PSB Synchrony One? You can find them used for $2K or so. They were listed by Stereophile in 2012 as a starred “Class A [Restricted Extreme LF] Loudspeaker Recommended Component,” along with speakers costing up to $80,000 in that category, and as a “Recommended Reference Component” by Soundstage Hi-Fi —again, in competition with vastly more expensive speakers. Summing up his review in Stereophile, John Atkinson wrote: “the Synchrony One offers surprisingly deep bass for a relatively small speaker; a neutral, uncolored midrange; smooth, grain-free highs; and superbly stable and accurate stereo imaging. It is also superbly finished and looks beautiful. Highly recommended. And when you consider the price [$4,500 a pair, and $5,500 a pair by the time they were listed as a “Class A Recommended Component"], very highly recommended.” SoundStage HiFi awarded the Synchrony One “Reviewer’s Choice” recognition when it was first released in 2008, then “Recommended Reference Component” status in 2012. The original review found the Synchrony One “among the most neutral speakers ever reviewed” that “sets a new standard for tonal accuracy, clarity and detail.” The follow-up review noted that the Synchrony One is “the least expensive speaker to ever be included in our list of Recommended Reference Components,” and that it measured (in the anechoic chamber of Canada’s National Research Council) lower levels of distortion “than any speaker at any price we’d measured up till then.” The review concludes “it’s important to realize that the Synchrony One isn’t being recognized as an RRC for the performance it offers at the price [$5,500 a pair]; rather, it’s a reference-caliber speaker that compares with top-class speakers at any price.” You can find these and other glowing reviews yourself with a simple Google search.

I bought a pair to replace my beloved but ailing Scientific Fidelity Teslas--but then found a guy in PA who was able to repair the Tesla drivers. I'd be willing to sell my PSBs. Got the boxes, manual, spikes and port plugs. PM me if interested.
I've heard the Spendor A series speakers and thought they sounded very nice for the money.
Ohm Walsh the best, but also always liked the old Totems, aka Arro, Forest, etc., for something more conventional but not obtrusive, especially with current used prices. PSB Synchrony also very good.