Floor standing Speaker Advice

Audio Gear Talk
#1

10 years ago I sold everything in my 2 ch setup …
Since then I have had Monitor Audio Silver RX full home cinema setup with Marantz flagship AVR, but now I’m ready again for a new 2 ch setup
An audio guru told me … first of all find your new speaker … and he is right. Beginning in the other end with new integrated och or separated is wrong way

So please help me to find my new floor stand speaker
Have a budget around $ / € 3500 to 5000

I like to listen to all kind of music but soft jazz and acoustic is my favorites

Have listen to the new B&W 700 serie and like them.

But there is so many other speakers out there and who is better to ask, if not you

Greetings from Sweden

:hugs:

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#2

It’s difficult because there are a thousand brands, tastes, and endless variations of rooms. I would recommend to make a list of all speakers that you can listen to where you live (if any) and try to arrange a home demo for your 2 or three favorites. (If you don’t have audition options it is always a gamble because you might hate the sound of any speaker in your room. In this case ensure some way to return them)

I was looking in the 15K region, made a list of whatever was available in Berlin that I could visually live with (sound first yada yada, but there are limits if you have to look at them in the living room for 20 years), tried to listen to most of them … and then was unimpressed by them all. (Let me see what I remember: Focal, Dali, Paragon, Audio Physik, PMC. Some others I forgot. Can’t bear B&W visually. Was not able to arrange auditions for a few I would have liked: ATC, Kudos, Dynaudio)

Then I found my dream speakers around the corner which blew everything away at comparable prices.

(Pictures a few posts further up from there and additional posts further down)

It’s not ideal if you can’t audition them but although they are custom built they have a nice money-back guarantee (with some deduction for delivery and so on). Or maybe you always wanted to see Berlin. The website is only German but copy the address into Google Translate and it translates perfectly.

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#3

Little too “modern” for my living room. I’m looking at retro speakers.

Eric, you might want to look at the Audio Science Review list of speakers.

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#4

Well I was making the recommendation to Eric who likes B&W so does not seem to be fixed on retro :slight_smile:

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#5

What I am asking for is speakers you have listen to, have or have had and like and Will recommend.

Then I Will do a list Call dealers ask for demo
Most part of all speakers that is well known is to find in Sweden or Denmark

:pray:

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#6

Personally I’ve been delighted with my Amphion speakers (Argon 7LS) and I see they have a couple of dealers in Sweden and fall within your budget. I just experience them as giving an incredibly ‘natural’ / ‘organic’ sound, for what that subjective viewpoint is worth. I listen to a lot of folk (particularly strings and vocals), as well as jazz, pop, classical, blues, rock (in pretty much that order). My reference point in listening tends to be the sound of piano, guitar, violin, bass and female vocals.

Of course, you may want to consider going down the powered speaker route. If I were doing this, my first port of call would be to listen to the ATC SMC40A, although I’m not a massive fan of the aesthetics.

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#7

Thanx dhusky

I will look for the Amphion speakers

Active speakers is not any way for me to go. I want to build a system Over Time with preamp, dac, power amp and other funny things …

#8

So the local stereo store here just switched from B&W to KEF. I had heard the 700 series and thought they were nice, if a little bright, but I was completely smitten by the new KEF R7 Meta.

I’m actually looking for stand mounters, I’m thinking a pair of the R3 will be in my future.

But, I would look at what you can listen to locally or what gives you the chance to listen.

Buchardt give you a trial period and have a very good reputation as well.

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#9

Yes the new KEF serie is very interesting and on my list

I will listen to the new Martin Logan Motion XT F100 when I find them in a store
https://www.martinlogan.com/en/product/motion-xt-f100

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#10

Don’t forget about the classic British sound (like the BBC monitors used to produce some of the greatest rock, pop, classical music of the 50s through 80s). Brands like Tannoy (used for Beatles Abbey Road productions), Spendor, Graham Audio, Harbeth etc.

Go around to various hi fi shops to try out different types of speakers from many different manufacturers—German, British, American etc. From Sweden a lot of places are accessible to you.

Take a few CDs that you really like (or list of compositions that can be streamed easily) and familiar with the sound so you can tell how the speakers sound. If they are using room correction software, ask them about it so you can judge the speakers for their true sound.

At your price range you might consider getting speakers that are great at the mid range and compensate for the lower end with “musical” relatively inexpensive REL sub, like the REL T/7i (I use two of them—fabulous sounding), and a crossover. That might get you bigger bang for the buck. Later if you want bigger bass later you can easily upgrade your sub without messing with your main ones

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#11

Yes the midrange is very important for me. More important than the lowest range.
Heard a lot of good critic about REL. Have 2 SVS today … as a start if they can match the new speakers if not they stay in homecinema.

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#12

Do you really want floorstanders then?

#13

Yes …
If I can find good floorstanders with good midrange and lowrange I prefer that

#14

Of course, if we can have it all we take that :slight_smile: It’s just, for 3.5K to 5K we can’t have it all.

If the lowest registers are not so important to you, it might be worth considering to invest into very good smaller speakers. Not only does more of the money go into what is more important to you, smaller speakers have some inherent advantages in the midrange.

The Sehring can start smaller and decdicated bass modules can be added later. Just sayin’ :slight_smile:

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#15

Please giv me some example of 5K smaller speakers that I can find in Sweden so I know what to compare with :pray:

#16

German prices per piece (1 channel). Don’t forget that you need stands though, I did not factor them in here.

My general idea here: From the same manufacturer and at the same price, a compact speaker from the higher range might give you more satisfaction than a floorstander from the lower range. The same principle applies of course not just to the below but to most manufacturers who have floorstanders as well as compacts. But in the end of course only you can make that decision

B&W 705 Signature: 1700
I actually find B&W not bad, I just can’t bear their looks so never seriously considered them

Dali Epicon 2: 3000
I found the floorstanders boring for my kind of music (rock etc) but might be nice for others

Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 XD: 2200
Harbeth Monitor 30.2 XD: 2600
A friend has Harbeth, they are very nice. In the BBC studio tradition

JBL L100 Classic: 2500
My hifi dealer finds them really good

Monitor Audio Platinum 100 3G: 2700
I had MA Gold floorstanders (around 3000 pair price) before and liked them a lot for what they were, but now I realize how distorted the midrange was compared to now, but of course now I paid 6 times that, so they should be better :slight_smile:

Sonus Faber Olympica Nova 1: 3350
Ah, now I remember that the Sonus Faber Olympica Nova 5 (floorstanders) were among the speakers I auditioned and they were very, very good. The only ones in my audition that got anywhere close to the Sehring Audio and that’s what I would have bought if I had not found the Sehring

Focal Kanta 1: 3000
I did not like the Focal at all (I heard Sopra and Kanta floorstanders with a serious Naim system, same as mine, in a Focal-Naim flagship store, so they should have been good, but I did not get along with them. Others do though, so shows how subjective this is. I like the design and really would have liked to like them

ProAc Tablette 10 Signature: 1200
It’s small but it’s great. On the Naim forum many people have them with systems costing several times that

ProAc Response DB3: 1300
ProAc Response DB1: 1600
ProAc Response D2D: 2000
ProAc Response D2R: 2300

PMC twenty5 21i: 1600
PMC twenty5 22i: 2300
I heard the larger fact.8 floorstander but could not at all get along with the dealer, so didn’t go anywhere

And finally, I would be remiss not to say :wink:
Sehring Audio S801: 1650 (compact with a stand)
Sehring Audio S802: 2100 (the S801 plus instead of the stand having a bass reflex enclosure making it a floorstander but without an active dedicated bass driver)
Sehring Audio S803: 2800 (the S801 plus a passive bass unit, not connected to the crossover, instead of the bass reflex enclosure, giving it better control of the bass reflex)
Or the M instead of the S models which have lesser crossovers but are a bit cheaper, giving you more bass modules for the same price.
These are just examples because of the modular concept, find the many combinations on the website. One of the nice things being that later one can change modules to better ones (the price for the returned module getting geducted) or add more modules for bass extension. Also there are many more options that on the website; best to email them and speak to the designer, Stefan Sehring, directly. He knows what to do best based on the needs.

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#17

Nice recommendations.

Consider some monitors like the British ones. Very very very good midrange. And if you’re willing to go used, you can get really good deals.

#18

Oh and Audio Physic, the Step and the Spark compacts. Don’t know prices though. I heard the Codex floorstander and it was in the running, but it is hard to say now after the fact because of the Sehrings beating them all so hard. A friend has the Yara II, a very small/narrow floorstander and they are really nice

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#19

Yeah, I did add the Harbeth because my friend loves them. Of course there are Spendor, ATC, and many other like the Tannoy as well. Most of the British ones are really, really difficult to listen to here in Berlin (or some are at the dealer who also has the PMC that I did listen to, but I really, really hate this shop :slight_smile: ), so I have little experience with them. The Brits were all on my own audition list when I bought mine, the Kudos as well, but it would have involved driving across the country for a whole day, maybe for nothing. I would have done that if I had not eventually listened to the Sonus Faber and then the Sehring Audio, which settled the problem :slight_smile:

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#20

Note I edited the ProAc and PMC prices because I mistakenly had first listed the prices for the pair, but all others were the single units. Should hopefully be correct now