Speaker Choice

Bill,

I don't entirely disagree and it's why I use valves in my front end. Compromises abound. Wish I could afford a pair of Magico Q5's. ;-)

Sweet fronte end, wish I had that level of a front end. bhobba's comment kind of made me laugh, how can something nail everything while being dry, thin, and uninvolving...no offense, sorry. I have heard the Monitor Audio Silvers on a pretty capable system they could deliver some great impact and SPL but were to my tastes a little un-refined at the price point. Are you set on a full range floor stander? If so I am a fan of Jim Salks stuff, the Sound Scape will deliver that full range sound with pretty good refinement, maybe a little bloated on the bottom end. If you can get your ears on so of Sonus Fabers systems they are always great, dynaudio is always popular but to me they are a little uninvolving. My Favorites if I had that budget would be fully decked out set of Vapor Audio Joule Whites. I own it's baby brother.

RII7X9,

No offense perceived. I would, however, like to clear up a misconception. Dry and uninvolving is certainly not how I'd describe the Thiel flagship (the 3.7's are not on BOTH Stereophile and TAS's recommended speaker list for being a disappointment) but what *I* meant, and should have written, is that many solid state components are thin, dry and uninvolving. The 3.7's merely present what they're given. That's certainly NOT appropriate for some people and should be known up front.

Anyway, I only suggest them as something that I believe would convey the McIntosh house sound.

"Thiels nail everything - I simply cant fault them - except in one area - a bit dry, thin and slightly uninvolving although to some extent that's fixed by valve source gear."

Isn't this a bit like saying "On paper Thiels nail everything but they don't sound like music" and "you have to color them up with soft or rolled off associated equipment to make them listenable"?

There are way better choices if you really want to listen to music.

Thank you for all of the suggestions. As an update, I found and fell in love with a pair of mint JBL L300's and have been spending way too much time enjoying them over the past two weeks. Very happy with the choice.