Børresen x2 if your room is on the small side. $8,800 new.
Non-fatiguing speakers in $10K range?
Some years ago I downsized to headphones only. Now I have access to a dedicated room again, so getting my absorption panels and ASC Tube traps back from storage... :-) The amp is going to be Accuphase E-800. I like class A, and I owned fair share of Pass gear but Pass integrated (and lower preamps) no longer have tape loop. I also like my gear to look the way I enjoy and Pass went too industrial for me.
Anyway, long story short. Speakers. I prefer relaxed, non-fatiguing sound. My headphones are Meze Elites and I love them. I also own Focal Utopia, but rarely listen to them, too forward for me.
Now, music-wise I do not listen to jazz or classical or vocals, sorry. Classic rock, hard rock, 80s new wave, punk, pop (classic and modern) and African blues like Tinariwen. People tend to insta-suggest forward sounding speakers - you like metal, right???. But I don't like piercing sound and I rarely go to concerts exactly because of this. I listen to AC/DC but NOT at 'realistic' revels. I like rhythm, melody, but I don't care about 120 Db.
The budget is about $10K, give or take, most probably second hand, but I can buy new, if I really like it. Unfortunately, there are not that many high end shops around Seattle with gear I like. Some went selling vintage and some went up selling only $100K+ systems. So most probably will be getting something blind.
It seems I should be looking for ribbon tweeters, I spent hours at youtube - it is definitely not listening in person, but some recordings are pretty decent and many show differences between speaker models.
I also compare frequency response measurements - I can easily tell that I won't like the speaker by looking at the chart. Ex, bump around 2-6K is a no-no since this is what "bright" is. Dip is actually good since this is what makes sound less "in your face/ear".
So far I more-or-less narrowed my search down to Legacy (Signature or Focus), Dali 8, ProAc (D48 or K) and - maybe - Magico A3? Legacy is huge, I am not sure I really need 20Hz extension. Magico has beryllium tweeters which may be bright....
I purchased Tannoy D700 many years ago, still own them, they are part of my TV set up. They sound good, but not as good as I would like it. My desktop speakers are ribbons too - AirPulse, I like them quite a bit.
Anything else I am missing?
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@helomech please don't cop out and pull the 'Google is your friend' to deflect your exaggerated response. I asked you to point me to all of the measurements that you are referring to which say all Legacy speakers seemed flawed. Speakers as tone controls? Name one speaker that isn't a tone control! All speakers, even what the beloved Amir uses (Revel Salon 2s), produce orders of magnitudes more distortion than any piece of gear/cable/tweak feeding them. So yes, they are all tone controls. Why do you think they all sound so differently? I'll humor you for a bit and pretend there are tons of measured Legacy speakers with posted plots online (of which there are very, very few and most are the older Studio model). The only flaw with Legacy is their tendency to be a bit heavy in the bass section. And that has a lot to do with electronics I've found. I have also found that test tones, you know some of what our expert testers believe are everything, are not worth much. I can flip a switch on the back of my Focus SEs which will attenuate bass response under 80Hz by 2dBs. And it is bloody obvious when I enable/disable that attenuation when playing music. But the praised REW software measured two identical charts. It just couldn't detect the difference whatsoever with it's limited capabilities. Plus, test tones are way different than the complexities of listening to music...which is what these things are designed to be listened with. |
Not on most radars, but you might want to do a little due diligence on Canadian made, PSB Speakers. I own TAD's now, but my first pair of reference speakers were the PSB Stratus Gold's, and they were nothing short of fantastic and extremely pleasing to listen to. I tried to better them with the following speakers and each one failed to bring the total qualities that the Stratus Gold's could deliver, Vienna Acoustic Liszt Focal Sopra 2 Wilson Sasha Tekton Double Impact SE The Synchrony T800 Towers are there flagship tower speaker, but I have heard both the Imagine line and the older Synchrony models, and all delivered smooth, dynamic sound that never was fatiguing at any listening level or any genre of music I played. |
It’s unhealthy and unbecoming to get so emotionally attached to material goods. It’s fine if you like Legacy speakers. However I won’t recommend them to anyone who wants a non fatiguing sound. It’s not like I’m going to alter your opinion, nor will you mine. Don’t let a silly hobby raise your blood pressure so much.
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