Floorstanders with a large sweetspot

>05-10-12: Jdoris
Hornguys: Do you think speakers vary as to whether they give a more or less satisfying listening experience off axis, or are they all they same, regards the decline in litening quality as one moves from the "sweet spot"?

They vary radically based on the driver sizes, locations, and cross-over points although to get those positive differences you'll need to get away from conventional cone and dome 2-ways.

My Zu Def 4s are places within 4" of the back wall and give a wide sweet spot. While they are pricey, you might call Zu to ask whether their other speakers have a similar characteristics. I also second Audio Note.

Daedalus DA speakers, I have the DA-RMas the hifi speakers by Lou at Daedalus. His origonal speakers the DA series were designed for wide dispersion. Very hard to beat these speakers and they look good too. They are more expensive than your budget, but there is a second hand pair, under Daedalus, on this site at the moment. They rarely are for sale second hand, people don't sell them

I second the Philharmonic 2 recommendation. It has a very large sweet spot. Any place in the room will sound great. It will go close to a wall as suggested, but since some of the sound comes out the top module and bounces off the front wall, you might want to hang a tapestry, absorption or diffusion panel behind each speaker for the best sound.

Bob

Great answer Drew eckhardt,
As a devotee for years of First Order Crossovers because of the phase correct delivery, I overlooked the directionality that they impart.
Its almost as if the Laws of Physics conspire to give us that dogmatic, equal and opposite thing in every category.
Comb filter effects, off axis aberrations in frequency response...as mentioned narrow 'sweet spot'...all negatives.
So when I designed the LSA Loudspeakers, one goal was to use a crossover that did NOT limit listening position as much.
My (now ex) wife used to say, 'I can only hear 'this' speaker, pointing to the one in front of her.
In experimenting, by using 2nd, 3rd order in my design, as well as the now more popular radius side wall cabinets, almost all of the directivity is gone.
I must admit to almost arbitrarily sitting closer to one speaker nowadays...just because I can and it's somehow liberating...certainly not confining.
Again, good answer and interesting thread.

Larry