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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
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Pete,

the real time with DIY speakers is in the aesthetics. It just depends on how far one wants to go. There are many open baffle speaker plans that could be built in a few days that sound wonderful. They may look like something you picked up out the back door of your local Home Depot, but they do rival many high dollar speakers. Still, the DIY route is not for everyone.

It sounds to me like your tastes in music are similar to my own. Those whose listening habits run the gamut like ours do place a huge burden on speakers. I can appreciate the demands of classical music but to ask a speaker to sound great on full symphony, bluegrass, jazz, and fully electrified rock is really not fair. But, life is not fair. :)

The Lectron really does have boat-loads of punch for a 50 watts/ch PP amp. I agree that it will handle low efficiency loads but I would warn that one needs to watch for heavy impedance loads. I found that out.
mariasplunge OP
174 posts
 
Dan ed can you clarify for me what "heavy impedence loads means. This is relaitvely new terminolody for me and clarification would be much appreciated.

Cmk, thanks for the recommendations. I enjoy learning more about speakers that are out there, your a and b both being ones I have never thought of. Those Cabasse are crazy looking. Are those classfied as horns? Fantastic and no problem with me recommending speakers you use actively, Thats what I am looking for, knowledgable folks and you obviously know what your talking about if you have experienced it.

Can you give me a better description of the Dali's. Have you used them?

Thanks,
peter
cmk
397 posts
 
Hi Peter

The Cabasse are not horns but dynamic cones, made of their proprietory ? wafer composite. Very light and rigid (93db/w). The "eyes" take a bit of getting used to, but they just disappear when the music comes on. Not everyone's cup of tea.

Dali MS series is more conventional, but cleverly designed with the rear of the speaker box converging. It uses 2 tweeters, "proprietary ribbon/soft dome hybrid tweeter module" which has one of the sweetest most extended highs. The finish on them are beautiful, definitely high on the WAF.

Unfortuately I've not used them(Dali), but when deciding to buy my last speaker, my choices were down to the Cabasse or Dali. I would have been happy with either. They are a new breed of very accurate, highly efficient and musical designs which are relatively amplifier friendly, which makes it easier to fill a room with music.

Albert Porter is using the Dali Megalines, their top of the line towers. He could shed some more light on their sonics.
oregon
820 posts
 
My 2 cents.
I've heard the Guanaries and the Veritys. Both are superb with tubes.
I'd most likely go with the Veritys (you lucky dog)!
mariasplunge OP
174 posts
 
Oregon, thanks for the input. Yes too lucky I think sometimes. How indulgent are 6-7k speakers? Crazy really.

Oregon, could you explain why you would choose the verty's?

Thahks,
Peter
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