Recommendation on speakers for listening to live music


Hello, I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation on speakers for listening to live music. I have a big collection of live Grateful Dead, phish, jazz, etc.. This is music on cd or vinyl that was recorded live. Are there quality speakers that cater to both live and studio recordings. Would be using McIntosh power amps mc252, mc275 etc.. Thank you very much for any advice.

jazzydrummer

I am a Dead fan myself and used to have Klipsch Heresy’s, the horns work well for live music. You would need to add a subwoofer or two to round out the low end. 

As non-acoustic music is usually heard though the sound system the live music venue uses---which rarely doesn’t employ horns as it’s midrange and tweeter drivers, the advice to listen through horns at home is not without merit. But be for-warned: if you haven’t heard horns in a home setting, you may be in for a shock. They can be very "forward" sounding, and sometimes "brash".

I tried listened through my band’s Altec Voice-Of-The-Theater PA loudspeakers, and found them way too colored for my taste. But then lifelike vocal and instrumental timbre is exceedingly important to me. Art Dudley didn’t seem to mind a little editorializing in his loudspeakers, and loved his Altec’s. To each his own!

I have 2 systems

both low power tubes

 

one has Ref 3A de Capos

the other Klipsch Quartets (horns)

 

I like both but the de Capos are much more refined and the Quartets always feel like live music