Best speakers for looks & sound < 1000


I have a pair of New Zealand made images which sound great but......Played them 4 6hrs at 1/3 volume put mute on and off and both bass drivers blew (morel 8" hex tech). 2nd times its happened. what are some better speakers that look as great. (www.totallywired.co.nz for pic images 403)and sound really good but wont blow easily.
fresh_prince04e0
Fresh prince, I have a pair of the new B&W CDM1NT speakers. They sound great! With the tweeter on top and grilles removed to expose the yellow Kevlar cone, in cherrywood finish,they look great! List price is $1200,but my local dealer geave them to me for $975.00!
Would you consider replacing the Morel drivers? I think Morel is excellent. Many of their speakers are Dynaudio(designed by or exactly the same as - both via agreement), which offer that level of performance, at great savings. Eggleston(among others) uses Morel. You could do this for a FRACTION of the cost of new speakers. If you go this route, be sure to check the internals(wire and crossover), to make sure this doesn't happen again.
By the way, I checked out the image site. Your speakers are REALLY nice. There is NO way you should replace them, as opposed to repairing them. Then I found the 220 mm Morel woofers at Madisound. $88 each. The less than $200 you'd have to spend could never be matched in performance.
I may be trampling the convictions of some of the "true believers" in High End audio on this one but I have had a pair of Cambridge Soundworks Tower IIs for about 3 years and absolutely love them. Saw their advertizing and a few things caught my attention: 1. Designed from the ground up by H. Kloss. Same fellow whose name is stamped on the back of the Large Advents pair I have in the back room. Hmmm... 2. Has a 10 year warranty. Just about the best you'll ever get. Hmmm... 3. Available for free 30 day trial in your home. The High End Audio shops let you do that, too, but you'll get a pair from them for 3 days, not 30. Hmmm... Thought I'd give them a try before making a final decision. Had listened to some very reputable speakers at this price point and at prices up to $2500.00/pr. But after living with the Tower IIs for a week I could no longer convince myself that any of the others could please me more. Do they beat out the sound of those big Advents (recently nominated in another thread as being among the best speakers ever)? You bet they do! And they beat the sound of a lot of other speakers, too, at this point and beyond. The looks? I'd have to describe the looks as reserved and tasteful. But I must confess that when the music starts to "take me away" that I don't do much looking. I just close my eyes, listen, and go with it.
Morel drivers are high quality. Maybe you should investigate the cause of failure. I dont think the spreakers are at fault, better check out your amp before you have blow another set of speakers. Returning the signal that was not straining your speakers should not damage them.