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Please help with speaker choices

Hi all,
Well the room and time has lead me down the road to upgrading speakers. A most exciting time, but alas, filled with choices and no possible auditioning for me.

So I must relie on this communities suggestions and help!!

First the current system:
Nick Doshi Preamp
Nick Doshi modded Lectron JH50
Amazon Referenze TT
Triplanar Tonearm
CDP-Don't have one yet
Focal 1007 Be Monitors-current speakers

Room Size:
21 by 13 with 8ft cellings

Music:
I listen to pretty much everything. Sorry for being so general. In one listening session I may move from Coltrane, to Cannonball Adderly, to Muddy Waters and Johnny Lee Hooker to Lucinda Williams and electric/folk Neil Young. Throw in some Dylan and then move onto the White Stripes, Beck, if I'm real rowdy maybe some Ramones or AC/DC, then come down with some Edith Piaf and a sip of 12 year single malt.

Reason for wantng change:
One is I find this a hobby. For me that means having fun with experimentation. So far I have only owned the Focals.
Two is now that I moved my system against the short wall and facing out to the long part of the room, the monitors seems lacking, like they are too small to fill the space, like it is too much effort. Three is I have nerver had a floorstanding speaker and the prospect excites me. Four is, sitting wise, I can only get about 9 feet near to the Focals. To place them closer puts them right in the middle of the living room. Not really acceptable. At 9 feet, the monitors just not presenting the soundstage I desire. At that distance with monitors, I am just not in the heart of the music.

Also something important to note is I like listening loud, but do not always have that option as my system is in the living room and out of respect for others cannot always listen loud so I must have speakers that offer low volume detail.

My choices so far (more of course welcome)
Sonus Faber Cremona floorstanders
Merlin VSM-Mxe
Verity Fidelio Encore
ATC 20's passive

At the higher end(only consider if HIGHLY recommended)
Verity Parsifal ovation
Sonus Faber Amati Homage

Monitors I might consider
Focal Mini-Utopia Be
Sonus Guarnari Homage

OK, sorry for rambling so much. Obviously I am putting a lot of thought into this. Any input much appreciated!

Peter
mariasplunge
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Since you are in a mid to far field listening position and you like loud then I'd go with a three way of your choice (may present amp challenges however) although from personal experience the SCM 20's can go extremely loud compared to other two ways but 50 Watts will not make them sing....I'd go at least 150 watts.

If you want to stick to your 50 Watt tube and want loud then I'd forget ATC and the others and go with horns or a nice two way supplemented with an active subwoofer.

The two speakers you selected at higher end. I would not highly recommend either due to impedance load consideration on one and a dip in the upper mid range response on the other.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
If you want a real departure, check out the Mirage OMD-28.

This is Mirage's high end assault on 2-channel playback incorporating a much higher-spec version of their Omnipolar module.

I got married in my living room in Dec. 2004; we had musicians provide live music for the ceremony and afterward. A couple months later I got some Mirage Omnisats and a subwoofer for the living room system. The Omnisats replaced some Wharfedale Diamond floor-standers, and the improvement in the illusion of reality was uncanny. The Mirages energize the room the same way live instruments had done a couple months previously. Nothing else has sounded so live in the room as the Omnipolar units.

So a high end, full-range version with much more sophisticated drivers and cabinetry should be interesting indeed. It would eliminate the sub/sat positioning and tuning I face and significantly improve resolution, dynamics, and linearity, while maintaining a carefully tuned ratio of sound radiation based on Mirage's 20+ years of research into speaker/room interactions and psycho-acoustics.
mariasplunge OP
174 posts
 
Those look interesting Johnnyb. What room size are you listening to those in and how far away are you sitting from them? How do they handle rock?

Thanks,
Peter
cmo
471 posts
 
That's an easy one for me..... Avantgarde Duo's! I have had a pair for about a year now and love em. They can can play Hip-Hop and AC/DC with enough slam that your chest will hurt, then turn right around and play Billie Holliday so beautifully you could cry..... I am like you and run the musical gammut (last night I went from Erikah Badu to Ben Webster meets Gerry Mulligan to Heifetz/Beethoven violin concerto (oh, and The Band)).... AMong others. They are incredibly efficient and can play very quietly and not give up any detail..... And no, when they are set-up correctly they don't sound honky (i.e. have horn colorations).

I am not familiar with your amp, but they do like tubes. Most people use SET's with them but you can surely use a PP design as well.

Chris
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
I have a couple of addenda to my previous post.

First, concerning the Mirage OMD-28s, I listen to ALL kinds of music on my Omnisats sourced from LP, and they never disappoint, whether it's solo, small group jazz or acoustic folk/pop, electronica, new age, piano, big band, or large scale orchestral. They'd probably be better off with a big, powerful SS amp though.

OTOH, something to look into to go with your 50 wpc tube amp would be the Zu Audio Druid or Definition Mk2. These speakers have a sensitivity rating of 101 dB. The Druids have a nominal impedance of 12 ohms, which would be very tube-friendly. The Definitions, unfortunately, are rated at 6 ohms.

Here's a review of the Druids which specifically mentions that they do their thing well at all volumes. That is something you're more likely to get with a highly sensitive speaker (and 101 dB is way sensitive).

All speakers I've mentioned are somewhere in or around your price range. The Mirages are $7500/pr, the Druids $2800, and the Definitions $9000. You could bridge the gap between the Druids and Definitions (and retain that amp-friendly 12-ohm load) by getting Druids plus a Zu Audio subwoofer. See Zu Audio's website.
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