Stand mount covers a multitude of possible speakers… some of which will work close to a wall and some of which won’t… and so on… @Coltrane can you give us some more clues about what the constraints actually are?
Personally I think BBC derived loudspeakers would work very nicely for acoustic jazz. But that does cover models from the LS3/5 size to the LS5/8, which by UK standards is pretty big and despite being stand mounted is certainly not ‘bookshelf’!
Harbeth is one option. Spendor also sells BBC-ish speakers in their Classic range. There are several other manufacturers building similarly ‘retro’ (but very nice in my view) BBC derived designs. They sound different to ‘modern’ designs, but very natural.
and what happens if only some of the members of the band are British? Do you just get the British jazz players coming out of one speaker and the non-Brits out of the other? How do you work out who gets the right and who gets the left speaker?
If you decide not to go the active speaker route then you may want you check out Amphion (e.g. Argon 3S) but I’d definitely audition with whatever amplifier you’re planning to buy next.
I believe you can’t go wrong with a pair of Harbeth speakers. These speakers are designed on the principle of the BBC philosophy of ensuring that for acoustic music the importance of the mid range is ever so vital. Check out the Harbeth range of speakers online and the many reviews and supporters worldwide!
Thanks for all your recommendations. I will certainly audition some active and passive speakers and see what I like. And, from the discussion I take that there are only good and not so good speakers, but no speakers for a particular genre.
I agree that there is no such thing as a “jazz” speaker but I can appreciate that you want a clear sound on all frequencies without blowing the doors off. I personally am happy with my system which is Linn Keltik active on which I mostly listen to jazz at medium volume (by choice rather than constrained - I live in the country). I have no idea if that will work with your budget. My system is nearly 30 years old and I would be surprised if it is worth a lot of money - but it will have to see me out!
My experience is that Linn are right in emphasising that the quality comes from the front end not the back. I am not a hifi expert (you can tell) but I suspect you are better off upgrading your source than your speakers. I can tell you more if you want - and if you ever visit France you are welcome to come and listen. You could also listen to quite a lot of British and European jazz.
Quick response ! Are you in my time zone, or do you keep odd hours ? By source I mean whatever your original media is used to enter your system. In my case i used to have a lot of vinyl (now sold) which I played on a Linn Sondek (also sold), and a lot of cassettes which I played on a Nakamichi (given away). Also a lot of CDs which I played on a variety of players. I converted all of it to FLAC which now sits on a NAS.
What is your situation ? Are you playing your jazz from vinyl, cds, tapes, or online ?
Something like the wharfedales would be amazing for jazz and at 1200 euros or so would leave a lot of your maximum of 4000 left over for DAC and amp replacement.
I ended up with my system having been to a couple of high-end audio shops that had listening rooms where I could take my own music and hear different systems. If I had to start again I would do the same again - but maybe such shops don’t exist any more. I do not know. That is the best advice I have to offer since you have already got FLAC as your source. On a side note, I find a lot of music on Tidal. ECM are particularly good at putting new stuff on Tidal. I repeat my offer: if you are ever anywhere near northern France give me a call. Two Michelin-starred restaurants within 10 km and tons of other good places to eat including the local Auberge 200 metres away.
Thanks for the invitation. I am in northern Germany, so not far but also not around the corner. If I make it to France I’ll contact you. Thanks. Listening to different systems and setups is always a great experience. Unfortunately I don’t know many people that have an above average Hi-Fi system. Most of my friends have way below 1000€ and very old systems and listen to CDs, or worse they plug their phones in to the amp.
Coltrane: you are right that people nowadays generally are not into hifi. I know that my musical tastes are not those of my neighbours but do I care ? I am an old git and beyond caring. The shops of which I spoke were in London and it was 30 years ago. I hope that such shops still exist but I dare say they are few and far between. If it were me I would travel quite a distance to make the choice but that is up to you. I know nothing about shopping in Germany but having visited Berlin I would be surprised if there were not a specialist there. I would recommend the shops I dealt with in London if they still exist. I am sure the people on this forum mean well but you never know about individuals on the web. Ged: always good to meet an enthusiast but I am not in Brittany: quite close to Calais but able to offer accommodation if needed (probably already booked for summer 2020). See www.cooper363.fr
