Please recommend speakers

Tomic601

Hi Tomic601, 

I hope that you will receive notification with regards to this reply. I don't want to have the last word by you not being alerted. I don't have access to that circuit anymore, but for the heck of it I replaced the tweeters with Hiquphons, and, although they tapered off too soon, they sounded far better, with no honking which you were speaking of. I can't say about anything beyond the 2CE or was there a 2CEI? I thought it was a 2CEI, but I couldn't recall if they made such a speaker. So, for the sake of avoiding an argument, if the original tweeters honked, then he must have been compensating for a tweeter issue. Either way, the caps were not replaced, they were bypassed so the capacitance was increased by .01uf, that would have made no difference as electrolytic capacitors are usually +/- 10% of rated value. Adding .01uf at 600V would hardly effect that. In series capacitance decreases, in series they increase due to the increased size of the plates that the signal has to deal with. As for his later speakers, I'd have to hear that as it would be an about face for him, unless his boys have taken over. I hope they have shifted gears, they, and Thiel, as far as I know, were the only American manufactures of any size who made phase and time aligned speakers, and I believe that no one bought Thiel and brought them back into production. I was just surprised when that happened, by-passing caps generally clears up the sound because most electrolytic capacitors suck. Black Gates sucked a bit less, but usually by-passing could improve even them. Which reminds me, I haven't visited Audio Note to see if they and Rubycon ever got their version of Black Gates into production since the patent has lapsed on the graphite technology that made the BG caps conduct low level detail so much better than other electrolytic caps.. Anyway, although I am skeptical, I appreciate your input and may try to locate a dealer, though I have gone full range because I have never met a passive crossover that sounds better than no crossover. Frankly I didn't believe the claims until I heard it for myself.

For $800, but not $1k? Okay let’s face it, there’s not a speaker in the world at your price point even near the Magnepan LRS. Those speakers are light years ahead of anything else at that price point. End of story. 

I would have also given a +1 for the Maggie LRS, but it appears size matters.

If I could take the bass from my Wharefdale Diamond 10.1s (currently back-benched) and put it into my ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 speakers that are in my office, I’d be able to suggest a top-notch, value bookshelf speaker with amazing sound.  Both on their own are outstanding in their own rights, but one has better bass, the other better detail and higher-end extension.  

I haven’t seen anyone recommend the Wharfedale Denton. You might try and find a pair of those on sale.

Everything I’ve read about the Dentons and the Diamond 225 is that they require space from the wall to perform as reviewed. 
 

FWIW, I had a pair of Diamond 220s in my kitchen, up against a wall, and they sounded fine but kinda dull and grainy. 
 

Rega RS1s are another good choice against a wall. And Kef Q100s (older front ported design)

OP here. Thanks again for all of the sage advice! I am definitely out of my league here in terms of budget and experience, but it’s good to get advice from those who know a lot more than me. I need to go through all of this information in detail once I have a couple of hours free. Just some general comments:

1) The bookshelf on which the speakers are placed is an open Etagere style bookshelf with an open back, so there is approximately 10" of space between the back of the speaker and the wall. Still not ideal, but maybe not as bad as an enclosed bookshelf with the speaker pushed up against the back panel.

2) The Jamo 803s which I currently have on the bookshelf are front ported, and perhaps that is why I feel that the Jamos sound great for what I paid for them (around $130 for the pair). But if I narrow down my choices to front or side-ported speakers that would fit within the bookshelf space (less than 14-1/2" height) I have much smaller category of choices. Elacs are often front-ported, but most won’t meet the height requirement. Perhaps the Golden Ear BRX would be a good choice? I haven’t seen that mentioned by anyone. The LS50s would fit in that space, but are rear-ported. I think I would likely get stands if I ended up getting the LS50s, however.  Many of the speakers on my shortlist are too tall.  The Klipsch 600Ms are too tall.  And the Monitor Audio Silver 100s are 1/4" too tall.  The Polk R200s would fit but are rear-ported.  

3) I do have a subwoofer (Polk PSW111).