Up to $4000US tower speakers for Jazz and Classical Music
Hello All!
My wife and I are musicians who happen to also love listening to music! Last 3 years we have used a pair of Q acoustics Concept 40 tower speakers powered (now) by and Audiolab 6000A integrated. We listen to 90% of our music on CDs (Audiolab CD transport) or vinyls (Audiotechnica turntable). Mostly jazz and classical music in our roughly 53 square meters (550 sq ft) living room. Some other speakers came and went but we have so far liked the Q acoustics more than any other. We like their honesty with a tinge of warmness, but they are also engaging, open sounding, dynamic, airy! We love how chamber music sounds on them: string quartets, piano trios (jazz or classical), voices, big bands, etc... but we do miss a bit of that lower octave the Q acoustics simply don't have. A friend lent me a pair of Elac Adante AS-61 but did no like them much. lots of transient attack (which was good for percussion instruments) but it somehow changed the color/timbre of other instruments. I work also as a mixing engineer and have a pair of Neumann KH310 monitors in my treated room so I can say I'm picky with sound. Of course we don't want the analytical sound of the Neumanns in our living room (completely different beasts) but we want speakers to still be honest, but engaging, open, dynamic, airy. We are looking for a pair of tower speakers around $4000 that will provide us with a more believable orchestral crescendo, pianissimo, fortissimo, and that lower octave of a double bass the Concept 40s can't provide (by the way, we don't want a sub; tried several and simply did not like the overall presentation). We are looking at possibilities in Crutchfield, Music Direct or Amazon in case we need to return them (we live in the countryside and can't audition any speakers nowhere near!). Our list includes: Klipsch Forte III, Definitive Technology Demand D17, Kef R7, JBL HDI-3800, Dali Opticon 8MK2, Revel F206 and B&W 703 S2 or 704 S2. They will have to be efficient as the Audiolab does not have a ton of power! Any suggestions, greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
Lots of suggestions, but most posters overlook the fact that you want to purchase from a reputable store that offers 30- or 60-day money back return privileges, i.e. Crutchfield, Audio Advisor, Music Direct. Over here there are several very interesting models: Shop Audiophile speakers from The Music Room (tmraudio.com) These have a 14-day in home trial period. Look at the Canton, Magnepan, PMC, Dynaudio Contour--you can find some excellent used speakers under 4K. |
You have the experience to know actual monitor speakers are designed with a different presentation for a reason, good. Judging by the description of your systems current presentation I'd say it ain't broke. I agree with dekay's suggestion. I have no experience with the SVS brand. I understand they offer a trial period and easy return program. Your 6000A has preamplifier outputs for a subwoofer. Long interconnects from Blue Jeans or Monoprice cable are fine. Competent subwoofer/s do not need to be matched to speakers and will work with future speaker upgrades. If your amplification provides enough power to your speakers using high pass filtering should be a matter of your personal taste. Good luck with it. |
Hi @2psyop , Reviewers say that the tweeters being directional results in the high frequencies not spreading. How does that effect the sound image in terms of width, height, depth and 3D in comparison to other speakers? |
Off axis midrange and hi-freq is better in the later models than the early ones. Eric has addressed this weakness in the design. I find the speakers to be forward sounding in soundstage not recessed. Vocals and other instruments are right here, not in the back. I have compared these speakers directly to Magnepan MMG and Vandersteen 2CE Sig ll with stereo subwoofers. The quality of sound is the same with both, but the Tekton is foreword and with the gi Vandersteen the instruments and singer is behind the speakers. Tekton has more bass, more defined. I don’t think the midrange or tweeter are problems, they sound natural. The only issue I have with the Tekton Double Impact is that it’s the first speaker I have had that will make bad recordings sound bad, good recordings good and really great recordings sound tremendous. Whatever quality level of electronics one has the Tekton will reveal in brutal honesty just how good it is or how bad it is. This is true about the quality of the recordings. |
