Budget - 1.5K-ish and under. I’m flexible, but prefer to be closer to 1K than 2K for the pair.
What I am looking at – Tekton Lore with the upgrades and beryllium driver and the Wharfdale EVO4.3…prefer floor standers, but definitely open to bookshelves…prefer no sub and find floor standers a little better for a 2.1 kind of set up. Open to anything though.
(Don’t mention Magnepans…listen, I’d love’em…I can’t give’em the room to breath they need right now)
Amp? – Looking to re-build from the front end to the backend, so I’ll worry about a new amp later, but if you’re going to pitch some good Speakers, maybe throw in a nice amp, too. Currently, I’ve got an Emotiva A500 and I do like it, but I’m not married to it.
Music I listen to – Jazz, Singer-Songwriter, Americana/Folk/Country, Rock/Classic Rock, a little hip hop/r&b…I don’t want to say everything, but I’ve got a wide range of music I listen to.
Room size…fairly large. Want something a little versatile…music forward, but I watch movies and TV on this set up, too.
I did this exercise over the summer and ended with a set of Dynaudio Emit M30. They are actually 2k new so outside your range, but I love them. I also found that a sub was unnecessary as they go down to 40Hz (-3db), which is more than enough for almost all music. Also the used discount on speakers is amazing (like cars) so if you can find a set of lightly used higher end speakers it’s worth the effort of driving somewhere and lugging them home.
So…my recommendation would be for a lightly used pair of mainstream brands like Dynaudio, Revel or Monitor Audio. Probably your best bang for the buck.
I’ve never heard them, but the ELAC Debut series is supposed to punch above it’s weight. If you can demo them it’s probably worth checking out.
As far as amps, I’m a huge fan of class D amps in terms of value. For $400 you can get a used NCore (VTV brand) NC252 that will power any speaker you will every consider with zero distortion or noise. It’s all the amp you will ever need.
I agree about the used market but when you buy used you have to factor shipping and that can eat up a lot of $ and who knows how conscientious the packing will be so take that into consideration. If shopping used I’d look local or within reasonable driving range. Not a bad choice especially in the NE US as you can have three or four major cities within a couple hour drive.
Missed the part about the amp in your original post. IMO, it’s far easier to pick an amp and then choose the speaker to best pair it with rather than picking a speaker than then will require a very specific amp. A lot more speaker options than amp options so the pairing seems easier to me.
Hmmmm. IDK tbh, it could go both ways, I agree that looking at both as equally valuable is important in this range, but I would focus what sound someone is after, and go from there. I would be more likely to say to buy a speaker and then match the amp to that speaker if you didn’t have an appropriate amp already. Personally I think the a500 wouldn’t be the best thing to power speakers with in this range. I would agree choosing and amp and then matching the speaker is easier, but I would argue that choosing the speaker and then matching the amps might give results that would better align with the initial preferences and sonic goals
Well, I would first want to ask what general sonic goals you are going for, and what you would want to prioritize? I know you have a wide range of music you are listening to, but what type of signature would you want to shoot for?
If you aren’t going to go for a sub and you have a room on the larger side you want floorstanders for sure (but that can’t replace a sub). Generally to me though bookshelves provide more sound per dollar and are more flexible placement wise in most rooms and also more flexible when it comes to amps (most of the time), generally I do prefer bookshelves but depending on circumstances a floorstander could make more sense for some
Sound signature…soundstage, imaging, and vocals. I’m not too picky about the signature…nothing too V Shaped. Anything in the Balanced to Bright range usually works for me.
I have the Wharfedale EVO4.2 bookshelf. I like their sound signature and I would imagine the 4.3’s would sound similar. The EVO series seem to be getting pretty good reviews online.
I have had my Wharfedale EVO4.2 set up for several weeks now and I’m not thrilled with them. To me, the voicing is “cardboard”. Testing the frequency response in my room, they roll off a cliff at 10 Khz. WTF? I don’t get it. Fortunately, I have a miniDSP SHD with Dirac Live and with correction, they sound fine. At the price, I was hoping for better than “fine”. The soundstage and imaging are actually pretty good but tone and frequency response are a disappointment.
The tone I was getting out of the Q Acoustics 3030i was significantly better. The Adam Audio T5V didn’t have enough body to fill that space but their top was better than both the 3030i and the EVO4.2.
Next on my list to try is the Triangle Genese Trio.
I love the clarity and voicing of the T5V. With the AMT, I was hoping the EVO4.2 would have some of that same sparkle but they just don’t. What I want is something like the T5V with more body and enough oomph to fill a larger space. I’m tempted to give the T7V/T8V a shot, even thought it’s a step “backwards” in price. Maybe the A7X? I don’t know. Picking speakers is hard.
M0N at Patreon. LOL