speaker suggestions for modest arcam alpha system

Mark:

You hit the nail on the head with Paradigm's, especially the Monitor series. A bit muddy in the bass to mid-bass, a bit indistinct in the upper mids, but pretty fair for the money, otherwise. In truth, I much prefer the smaller Paradigm's to the larger. I have not heard Dynaudios in a long time, so they are not too fresh in my mind, but I recall them as being very pleasant speakers.

From what you are describing, with Arcam electronics, I am guessing that ProAc is going to be the way to go. This, of course, is the route that I am taking. I found the ProAc's to be both warm and very detailed, which are usually two characteristics that are somewhat at odds. If you went Thiel, the SCS3's I recall as being a bit more full sounding, and might be your best bet.

I also think that monitors are really going to do a better job for you. In general, monitors will give you a better soundstage and image (not much box vibration to muck things up). I may be able to pick up my ProAc's and Arcam FMJ A22 this weekend. Once I get them set up, I will let you know how they sound.

Tom.

I use B&W n805's with my Arcam alpha 8 integrated and alpha 7 CD and am very pleased with the match. I loved the Signature 805's in the shop but they were too expensive for my budget and I found I really couldn't appreciate the improvement over the standard n805 with my current setup.

Mark - I usually avoid recommending specific components/speakers in this forum because there are so many variables to consider and people have different tastes, etc. However, I did want to touch on the comments made above regarding the Hales. Keep in mind the T5's (Trancendence 5) floorstanding model by Hales was near the top of their line and retailed for about $6k new. Waaay above the price point you are looking at, even used. Hales' lower-priced line was the Revelation series, the smallest of which was the Revelation One, original retail $995. Hard to find used, but they occasionally come up on the 'gon for around $500/pair. Huge value! Hales are not as well-known as many of the speakers mentioned above due to their minimum of advertising and relatively few dealers (only about 50 nationwide at their peak). Hales Design Group is no longer in business :( but since you are looking at used that should not matter as much.

I own a pair of these bought new four years ago and LOVE them. I have them supported on Sanus's "ultimate foundations" with the fountainhead base. The Rev 1's are a ported 2-way, 8-ohm nominal impedance, 87dB sensitivity, 6.5" woofer, 1" tweeter, Cardas binding posts and internal wiring, proprietary crossover.. these boxes are QUALITY inside and out. (The shipping box states "Handmade in the USA"!, Huntington Beach, CA to be exact!).

They just play whatever you can throw at 'em. Like any speaker, they are not perfect, but they do very little wrong. These little guys will "play large" like very few monitors can, and set up properly on good stands will not require a subwoofer for most music. I am not exaggerating. They can convey a "depth" and "power" on music that exceeds many other manufacturer's small-to-medium floorstanders.

Although Hales have a reputation as requiring a lot of power, the Rev One's should play as loud as you would require in your room using the Arcam. That's a nice little amp. The only drawback I can see in your system is this speaker is not bi-wireable, so you could not bi-amp them down the road with the Arcam. You could, however, put more power behind them by using your Arcam as a preamp and buy a more powerful amp (McCormack DNA series, anyone?) and the Rev Ones would eat it up.

Truth be told, I have not conducted a double-blind face-off with the Pro-Ac, et al, mentioned above and cannot compare the virtues/vices of each. However, I did compare them extensively to other speakers the shop carried where I bought my Hales a few years ago (B&W 805's, Canton Ergos, Snell) at similar and even higher price points and I preferred the Hales' sound by a WIDE margin. They are much more refined than their price would suggest. Professional reviews of the Hales Revelation line routinely had to look to much higher-priced speakers from other brands for comparison. I may be biased towards my Hales but I can't help it. All I can say is I have no desire to upgrade!

I got to hear my ProAc's with the FMJ A22 over the weekend, and let me say, it was big smiles all around! Those ProAcs really image like crazy, and while not in the league of my Thiel CS3.6's, the bass out of those mini's was just unbelievable! I am very, very happy with this combination, but I am not looking for different speaker cables. I was going to use a pair of MIT AVt3's (spade to spade), but after hearing bi-wired MIT AVt1's, the difference was very noticeable. However, seeing as how this system is for my office, I don't want the big MIT boxes hanging off the back of the speaker, so I'm on a bit of a quest for a visually unobtrusive, fairly flexible, bi-wireable speaker cable that performs in the league of the MIT AVt1.

But back to the question at hand, I can confirm that Arcam and ProAc is a very nice combination.

Tom.

Thanks everyone,

John z, i don't blame you for avoiding specific component speaker recommendations, but in this case, it's been super helpful...before this post, i was thinking about paradigm monitor 7v3's exclusively (which are significantly better then the v2s imho)...

but now i think i am sold on looking for some used proac tablettes or Hales monitors with a distant third place going to the soliloquy 5.0s (from reviews, it sounds like the 5.0s may not cater to my musical likeings as much as my top two choices)...

one other speaker group that kept coming up in negative reviews of both the proac tablettes and hales R1 were dynaudio audiance 50 (monitor) and 60 (small floorstander) (not exactly sure if i can get them in my pricepoint though)...any thoughts?

also any thoughts on how the proac tablette 50s compare with the tablette 2000s would be helpful....Mark