Hear ye! Thou who knowist thy speakers..


All you speaker connoisseurs, your assistance would be greatly appreciated. I live near Yosemite Park in the Sierra Mountains of Northern California, so getting to enough high end audio stores to audition speakers is very difficult and time consuming. Steering me in the right direction will save me many days and hours of travel. I own a Meridian 508.24 CD player, Audio Research LS 16 pre-amp, Plinius SA 100 MKIII Amp. Nordost SPM interconnects on the Meridian and NBS Monitor IV interconnects on the pre-amp and amp. Black Mamba on the CD and NBS Monitor IV power cords on the rest. My current speakers are NHT 2.5i with either (I switch them occassionally) NBS Monitor IV (warmer) or JPS Superconductor+ (revealing) bi-wire speaker cables. For the money ($1300), the NHT 2.5i are the best speakers I've heard, but it's time to get a speaker that compliments the rest of my system. I'm willing to spend no more than $5,000 for used or new speakers. I do have them hooked-up to the DSS receiver and DVD (stereo), but I mainly listen to music. Classical, jazz, world beat, rock.. If it sounds good, I'll listen to it. Which speakers in your humble opinion should I focus on and why?
rosstaman
A used pair of B&W N802 would also be in the relm of possibility. I have owned this speaker for almost a year and it has not stopped impressing me. As far as looks go - you either love them or hate them. My wife fortunately loves the look of our N802s, and we both love the sound. Check out www.bwspeakers.com for more info and photos. Cheers Dan
Hi Rosstaman. I would suggest the Genesis V's, which I've seen used for about $5k on Audiogon. I was in a similar situation as you - I owned a pair Dunlavy SC-IV's, and liked the sound, but had them displaced on account of low WAF. I listened to Aerial 10T's, B&W Nautilus 801's, Revel Salon, and Wilson WATT/Puppy's, but the Genesis V was the clear winner. The finish on the Gen V's is a beautiful rosewood, and they easily fit in the room (42" tall). The sound is spectacular - maybe not as coherent top to bottom as the Dunlavy's, but much greater resolution, more air around instruments, deeper soundstage, and better low bass extension. They also work well with Plinius electronics (probably the only solid-state stuff I'd pair them with). Hope this helps.
I have to agree that the Proac's just sound so right that they can't be denied. I waited about 8 years and found a pair of 2.5's that still just blow me away. I paid $2700. You need plenty of solid state power though to make them stay tight and perform as designed.
Check out B&W Nautilus 802's used or 803's new. Wonderful speakers on a wide variety of music. The bass will not blow you away, but they have outstanding highs and mids. Stereophile also recommends these.
Ther are a pair of Used Coincident Super Eclipse on for 3250.00 from someone in California.If you can give them a listen,I think your search will be over.Read the review go to www.coincidentspeakers.com