New Speaker for Under 5K


I recently posted a discussion called, "New Cart for Under 1K". Throughout the many responses it had been concluded that the real issue with my system is my current speaker setup. Rather than continuing a conversation about speakers in a subject about cartridges, I decided to start a new post to stay on topic.

I've been listening to a bunch of new speakers lately and have given myself a budget of 5K or under. So far, I've listened to Atom, Monitor Audio, Spendor S3/5R2, Dynaduio Focus 260, and the Devore Orangutan 0/93 - being the only one priced above the 5K mark just for comparison measures. Here's what I found:

Atom: Something was missing, they were very forward, had nice highs, but just didn't produce music correctly.

Monitor Audio: Beautiful speaker, a little to accurate for my tastes.

Dynaudio: Did everything very well and nothing perfect. Since I listen to a diverse array of music, these were the best so far. Bass could be a bit improved, but not thin.

Spendor: Amazing with jazz and vocals, boring and dry with rock.

Orangutan: Amazing punchy bass, but very much like the Spendor's where the treble rolls off and lacks excitement with rock.

My focus is to find a speaker manufactured by a speaker company that only makes speakers. Therefore that companies bread and butter where other products cannot pick up the pieces financially should a certain product line not be successful. I'm also staying away from all metal based tweeters since for whatever reason harshness in the highs and sibilance is a major issue with my current Focal 936's (which I'm selling). My original thought was to buy a new cart, but I have come to conclude that I simply do not like my speakers.

The posts under, "Analog", "New Cart for Under 1K" was my original posting which was tremendously informative and helpful. Take a look there to understand the history of this new post.

Any recommendations on top of the speakers mentioned above?

David
davidlillis
Check out the Joseph Audio speakers in your price range.
I have always liked the floorstanders and every demo I heard of any model
over the years has been very musical with no obvious flaws.
Make sure any speaker you audition has the fabric dome tweeters since you dislike metal domes (as do I). I listen to a lot of rock and it sounds stunning through my Odyssey Lorelei speakers. (My speakers are actually the Kismet floor standers, but they are just a beefed up pair of Lorelei's with a better crossover. The sound is extremely close. My setup has very deep and full tight bass and midbass, smooth midrange and very non-fatiguing highs. I listen to anything from Allman Brothers all the way to ZZ Top and it all sounds good, some great and some stupendous.

Pink Floyd is amazing on them. Jazz and Classical sound equally as well. May be worth checking out. I think they are around 2800.00 but the same speakers under the Symphonic Line brand are around 10,000.00 in Europe and they are the same speaker system.