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Excellent Speakers for Classical Music - $2,000 USD Budget

Hello All...I am primarily a classical music listener, leaning more towards solo piano, symphony/orchestral, and chamber music. I have a Rotel A14 integrated amp in which I plan to add mono amplifiers to at some point in the future. I let a pair of B&W 804 Nautilus Speakers slip through my fingers recently. There is a B&W 804 Matrix set for sale near me, but don’t know if the Nautilus are better than the Matrix. So, I let a good pair slip through my fingers. But, it got me to thinking...Are there any other brands that I should consider besides B&W? I had in mind to audition Magenpan and Martin Logan electrostatics. Seeing that I only want to spend around $2,000, does anyone have any ideas?

In my office, I use Adam A7x nearfield monitors with ribbon tweeters, and for headphones, I love my Sennheiser 800S’. I like a nice detailed, clear, and forward sound. Would another ribbon tweeter floor standing set do it for me? Electrostats the way to go?

Looking forward to your suggestions.
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audionoobie's avatar
audionoobie
357 posts
 
There are literally hundreds of speakers in the very competitive $2k price range market. Some of my favorites are: Vandersteen 1ci, Ohm Walsh Tall 1000, Magnepan 1.7i, and Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary.  

But with you saying, "I like a nice detailed, clear, and forward sound," maybe try the Magnepans or perhaps Klipsch? 

How big is your room? Perhaps you could tell us about what speakers you've heard in the past and what you liked and didn't like?
audionoobie's avatar
audionoobie
357 posts
 
Also, where do you live? Do you have a reputable Hifi dealer by you? Have you gone out and listened/ demoe’d anything?

That is half the fun!!! If you have the ability, get out there and listen.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,252 posts
 
Having sold Ohm Walsh loudspeakers for 4 years at Luskin's HiFi in Miami Florida. I can say that they are certainly room filling and have a confused image probably from too much reflected sound but, I never lied the high end either. 
In your price range with your current amp I would be inclined to recommend a set of used Klipsch Heritage speakers like Heresy's or Cornwalls. Martin Logans will be OK for your purposes. I really do not like Magnepans until you get to the 3.7i which is a great speaker for the money but have neither the power or finances for them. You want an efficient speaker with reasonable directivity. This is where horn speakers excel. 
Reproducing a symphony orchestra is no joke. You have to be ready to reproduce 100dB peaks effortlessly if you want to get bass and Kettle drums right. 
tweak1
3,563 posts
 
ASAP, I saw a pair of Emerald Physics 2.7s MSRP ~ $6,000 for < $2000. These are beyond amazing speakers. I own the 3.4s which is a single 12" concentric driver with 1" polyester tweeter. My room is quite large so I have 2 subs for deeper bass, that are probably no where near as good as the subs in the 2.7s. There are some outstanding reviews you search for
hth
jasonbourne52's avatar
jasonbourne52
2,863 posts
 
A used pair of Rogers/KEF/Goodmans LS3/5A's plus 28" stands will sound better than 99% of the above speakers for listening to classical music! I have the Rogers - bought on eBay from a seller in Lithuania (!!!!) for $960! The LS3/5A is now back in limited production from Falcon and another company in the UK. The price is high - over $3K!
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