Hi there - I was in the same position with my CW IV’s about a year ago and ended up finding a demo pair of Graham SL5/5s and pairing them with two REL s510’s and couldn’t be happier with the set up. The used price I paid with two new rels is right in your budget. The Spendor Classic 100s should sound pretty similar to my Grahams. Before the CW IVs, I was running Spatial Audio M3 sapphires, which are still one of my favorite speakers. They do vocals extremely well, but not as detailed or balanced as some others, but great bang for the buck and super easy to drive. Only other thing to note is that the Grahams are a little harder to drive than the CW IVs…happy listening and curious where you end up!
Speaker Suggestions for Next Move
I'm considering moving on from my Klipsch Cornwall IVs. I'm looking for suggestions on new loudspeakers in the $8-$15k range. Used is fine too.
Here's what you need to know (or what I think you should know):
- Modifications: I upgraded the crossovers and binding posts similar to the modifications made by Don Sachs (VCap ODAMs, Rike resistors, better wire/posts, and some internal damping). I have them sitting on acoustically near inert 1.5" studio subwoofer platforms. I feel I've juiced just about all I can out of them.
- Reasons for Changing. They do not sound harsh or bright. I'm not thinking of moving on because of that. I'd like to get a bit more depth to the soundstage and more finesse in the overall presentation.
- Things I Have to Keep.
- I need to have sizable scale in the presentation. I have a good group of audiophile buddies and a friend who is a dealer. I've heard so many high end offerings that don't really scale that well to me. I really like how you feel like you listened to live music or a studio--not a laboratory. Sound doesn't shoot at you with laser focus, but rather it blooms, bathes and surrounds you.
- Amp Friendly. I have found the CWIVs to be very friendly with both SS and tube topologies. Surprisingly, they can sound amazing with great quality SS. I have both types of pre/power amps to service speakers, but I'm not looking for speakers in this price range that need gobs and gobs of wattage. I'd be happy to commit more so to SS if needed, but I'd like to stay way from very difficult loads.
- Placement. I have a dedicated space and have leeway on placement. That said, I don't want to wrestle with a fickle speaker either.
Side Note/Stuff I Don't Really Want to Discuss Here. You can note this stuff all you want and chat with others about it in the thread (won't bother me at all), but I'm not going to engage on (a) Klipsch Heritage is garbage and awful sounding; Trust me though, I do see how Klipsch builds to a pricepoint and could easily better its offerings with better parts, bracing/dampening, etc.; (b) modifications are dumb, wasteful, hurt resale, etc. I could care less about any of that. I'd prefer not to modify stuff--fyi; (c) detailed discussions about amplification and sources. I have and have access to various topologies, manufacturers/brands, etc.
Room: A bit large for me, historically. 15.5' wide, 23' long, with 10' ceiling. Speakers will be placed along the short wall.
Music Format: Vinyl 50%, Digital 40%, CD 10%.
Genres: Pretty much you name it. Jazz ~30%, Rock/Pop ~30%, Blues/Folk 30%; Classical ~10%.
I'm curious to trying Fyne, Spatial Audio, Spendor (classic line in particular), Tannoy, Volti, Harbeth, PSB's flagship, Wharfedale's flagship, ATC, Vandersteen, Devore. Open to others.
Thank you in advance!
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@mezzguy2 , Thank you for your input--it's extra valuable coming from someone who owned the CWIVs and who generally likes them--as I do. I'm going to try the Revival Audio Atalante 5s (Great recommendation @bigkidz). I'm very curious and if I don't like them after a few months I can sell them--they appear to be selling like hotcakes. I had a great two nights of listening with the CWIVs this weekend. But the sessions confirmed I want to move on. |
@jbhiller wrote: "I’d like to get a bit more depth to the soundstage..." Ime there are two types of soundstage depth. The first type would be a deep-soundstage "they are here" presentation. A "they are here" presentation is an approximation of the musicians playing in your acoustic space. Minimizing the reflections off the wall behind the speakers, either by distance from the wall or acoustic treatment on the wall or both, along with minimzing the first same-side-wall reflections, contribute to a deep "they are here" soundstage. The soundstage depth is still somewhat constrained by the room, BUT is can be much deeper than if no attention is paid to these early reflections. The second type would be a "you are there" presentation, wherein the venue spatial cues on the recording are perceptually dominant over the "small room signature" cues of the playback room. So the sense of space (including the soundstage depth) varies from one recording to the next, corresponding with the venue spatial cues on the recording, whether they be real or engineered or both, and is not constrained by the room’s dimensions. Imo the second type is the more enjoyable and the more elusive, and I can go into a bit more detail about it if you’d like. I’m not saying that favorable room interaction is the ONLY contributor to good soundstage depth, but ime it is one of them. Another factor is, the loudspeakers themselves should free from strong edge diffraction, as that can degrade the image localization cues, including depth. Duke dealer/manufacturer |
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