Speakers - Your "Safest" Choice


Hello All: Many of us have limited access/ability to audition multiple speakers brands. That got me to thinking- If one had a budget of $20K max, a solid state amp rated at 125WPC, and listened to all varieties of music (primarily rock, pop, folk), what speaker(s) would you be most willing to recommend to that person and feel confident they would be happy with the purchase?

gnoworyta

There are way too many associated variables to warrant an absolute answer. A perfect speaker for one person's application might be unlistenable to someone else and his application. Maybe that is why there are so many choices and so many different approaches. Exclusive of the cost, if there were a perfect speaker, there would be no need for any others.

Definitely agree with the Sonus Faber and Revel recommendations. I’ll also throw in Dynaudio. I feel like Dynaudio are one speaker that you almost can’t not like. They sort of ooze out and surround you and draw you in. Whereas some others (like B&W) jump out and grab you. I find Dynaudio to grow on you more and more the more time you spend with them. That said I have SF Sonetto in a second system and Revel Be in my theater setup and can’t go wrong with either…

Borresen X3 or X6 they are an amazing choice 

Marten Oscar Trio really good too 

Wilson Sasha DAW used or Sabrina used too 

You are save with those choices 

Do consider posting more information, like the rest of your system in detail and the size of the room and so on. Your original question is a bit too open ended to get truly useful responses.

In a forum like this personal preference varies so much. If you don’t audition speakers your choice might be just OK for you, or even worse, unenjoyable to you. You are not optimizing what your $20K will buy.

I recently went through the speaker auditioning process. I live in a major city with 5-6 brick and mortar hifi stores. Some speakers were very "technical"... lots of precise detail, thrown in your face, Many people like that sort of thing and it is impressive at first listen. To me, some of these type of speakers are not very musical and may offer up a sound that would not keep me in my chair for hours and hours of listening. Also speaker performance is often very dependant on good matching of upstream amplification and sources. Additionally ,much of the genres of music you enjoy are not that well recorded or mastered for the "air bud" crowd. Unforgiving speakers won’t help you enjoy listening to that. In the end, I didn’t buy what I thought I would when first going into the process.

The " safest choice" for you maybe to buy buying used. You will likely find speakers just a few years old for way less $$$ than new, which will allow you to either spend less or get something better than what $20K new would buy you. If you don’t ultimately like them, can sell them, get your money back, and look for another pair. Although many sellers are unwilling to ship large speakers, many 2nd hand dealers will.

 

What 125/wpc solid state amp do you have.?  How loud do you listen?  All makes a big difference. Can you handle big, heavy speakers?