I guess preamps are more important with SS poweramps. I would never go passive with SS but i would defenetly considere it with nice tube monoblocks.
Bevor I decided to go the Harbeth rout in my living room I considered going with used Contour 3.3. They need a lot of power and I considered goin with used Audionet AMP 1 v2 - 222W @4 for 1200$ and Bi-amp later. I looked at a used 1800$ Accuphase preamps to go with them… I would maybe pay alt least 1/3 the price of the SS Poweramps for Preamp.
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sorry 
sorry… NADs build quality is going downhill for years
no recommended …
I agree… grat speaker but needs a lot of space behind it and a very powerfull, clean and well damped amp. They can delive a hevy amount of bass and great impact too if you use a 200w amp.
T5V are more musical then Genelec… I don´t like them at all for listening to music
would´t get them for mixing neither
What is the maximum budget you have available? Could you also live without a subwoofer for a while and upgrade it later?
How do you feel about the focal shape 65? I think that would have enough low end and also be fairy enjoyable to listen to compared to other studio monitors. Dynaudio also makes some nice studio monitors that would get the job done
focal tweeters give me hearing fatigue, don´t know why
@M0N @German_Power Hahaha! No worries! I loved seeing all that! Helps with taking a peak into what I’m diving into 
Was afk for a while because work took over my life yesterday haha.
I checked out with some dealers and the Polks are definitely not accessible. Seems like they’re really only accessible in the US.
So it seems to me that Genelecs are out if the T5V is more musical (I liked the T5V, but it’s still clear what they were made for imo).
Right now it seems that I’m leaning towards the Buchardt S400 or the Harbeth P3ESR. The P3ESR seems to be just at the edge of my budget for speakers which is 2500CHF (can equate it to USD, it’s about the same) and from what I’ve read seems to lack quite bit of low end extension (even the spec is only down to 75hz). Has this been your experience @German_Power ?
I don’t expect my table setup/furniture to change much in a meaningful way anytime soon that would allow for a sub, which is why I’ve been attempting to avoid needing a sub. If this wasn’t the case, I’d obviously get a sub as that would be the best solution regardless.
EDIT: I also find it hilarious that all of a sudden there’s a bunch of used LS50s popping up around me between 700-825 
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I don’t think the Buchardts are a great NF Speaker…
The Buchart Tweeter is not very mellow and would be even more aggressive in NF use.
I can get them in Germany for 2130€ ~ 2310chf
Yes they don’t have great extensions but the are very high quality, smooth, warm, transparent and have an exceptional midrange. For me personally they deliver enough lowend to be satisfied.
I would recommend pairing them with a Rega Brio (800€ ~ 870chf) amplifier.
I want to recommend the Dynaudio Evoke 20 (2000€ ~ 2170chf) again because they have a soft but neutral treble, a warm midrange and slightly elevated dynamic bass that goes deep. The IOTAVX SA3 (450€ ~ 490chf) 90w @4 would be a matching budget amplifier. Dynaudios love powerful amplifiers and sound a lot better with better amplifiers. That’s why I would try to get a good deal on a discontinued Atoll IN 100 SE (The new Atoll IN 100 Signatur costs 1000€ ~ 1084chf) 140w @4.
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How would you compare it to a KEF Coax tweeter (in my case I have the Q150 and have heard the Q750)? Those and the T5V are the speakers I’m most recently familiar with. I rather enjoy the clarity and detail retrieval of the KEF coax, but I’ve felt that sometimes the midrange can be just a tad shouty. And in the case of the Q150 the low end definitely bottoms out with some of the things I listen to (which is part of the reason why I want something with good extension).
The Dynaudio seems interesting. That may be something I’ll have to do some research on.
I was considering getting a Hypex Ncore 252mp based power amp. Seen some really great results on ASR about it, and it’s a damn good price (the one from Audiophonics.fr). It’s 250w @4, and 150w@8. Could use my ADI-2 DAC as a pre-amp to feed it precise voltages to get the most out of it, and use an attenuator in between to manage the volume a bit more if needed.
Yes it’s pretty great (I don’t know if I mentioned the evoke 20 or 10 above, it was awhile ago
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For your use case, I don’t know if the s400 would be that preferable imo because they just preform much better in a room not on a desk
The P3ESR is great but I would highly recommend a sub if you want to consider them, they really do need it more than other speakers if you like your bass lol
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Well i love em.
But yea, they more for all neutral sound. Specially with the GLM ones that help with room acoustics. Major benefit.
It’s all about what you like in the end.
I personally don’t like T5V’s tweeter… sound un-natural in some way.
Like in here. Same thing in real life, same type of difference. More in the highs and mid-range test.
Yea and don’t say G’s lack bass… the 8020 are bass light. Same with home series G2 / G3 difference is huge. Same with those and newer studio series ones.
Mentioned bigger ones earlier.
Yeah the 8020 are more designed to be used in a multichannel setup so they don’t need to have subbass, the sub would take care of that in a proper 8020 setup
For studio monitors I prefer stuff like barefoot, pmc, atc, etc lol
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Harbeth: similar but more details and more neutral and realistic without beeing agressive at all
Dynaudio: warm, maybe less trebel extension, good clarity, because they are very easy to listen to the resolution is not obvious at first glance but the is a lot! you just have to actively listen
T5V are more agressive than both and have less resulution but their resolution is very obvious and gets thrown at you
not very neutral but good clarity and a lot of energy
I don’t advise you to go this route…
There is a good reason expansive Amplifiers exist.
Harbeth would sound awful with class D.
Dynaudio might be okay but not happy.
I even quoted you above xd
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Regarding the amp, I would say it depends on what speaker he ends up going with, because a tube might be worthwhile if you go with the harbeth. I use a class d amp on my special 40’s (dynaudio) and it sounds great, so it depends on the quality of the class d
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@German_Power before we continue, I just quickly want to thank you both for being really fantastically helpful here. Y’all are awesome! And of course thank you to everyone else who has contributed so far. It’s a really great welcome to the forum 
So I’d probably want to try out some of these speakers.
Coincidentally, a demo unit of the Dynaudio Evoke 20 is currently for sale “nearby” (hour drive) for about 1550CHF. That’s a drop of 800CHF compared to new everywhere here in Switzerland!
I’m thinking I may drive over there this week to give it a listen and see if it suits me. I’ve dug into some info about the 20 and it seems like a really great speaker! Gotta love the wonders of trickle down tech.
Have either of you had a chance to try out the Evoke 10, 20, and Special Forty? How’s the differences in those three? I wonder because it seems like Evoke is similar to Q series of KEF, where since it came after the higher end stuff, it retains a lot of the Sonic performance. Even read someone say that they demoed the Evoke 20 and Special 40 side by side and basically didn’t hear a difference. And Steve Guttenberg specifically called out the Harbeth P3ESR as a similar musical sound that he’s reminded of when he heard the Evoke 10.
Naturally, the more money I save on the speakers, the more I can put into an AMP that’s suitable, which is why this Demo unit idea is appealing.
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I have heard all three and own the special 40, they are pretty great lol. The special 40 has a bit better technicalities, but not as much low end oomph as the evoke 20 (but I have lots of subs to combat that lol). The 20 is the place to be for that price imo, I wouldn’t consider the evoke 10 if you can get the evoke 20 for that price.
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Alright. Sounds like testing that Evoke 20 is the next step. And seeing if I can live with Blond Wood Dynaudios pics of the color look fantastic, but some other badly white balanced photos make it look atrocious lol
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I’m fascinated that quite a few people on the AVSforum have found that the Evoke 20’s are “terrible”, “boring”, “muffled”, etc. One person in particular thinks it’s because of the 3200hz crossover point (he also said this is why the Evoke 10 is likely better at a much lower crossover point).
Did you get to go and listen to them? Also perhaps they didn’t have the right amp or had something wrong lol
Not yet. Tomorrow evening I’m going to check them out. Had to contact the shop owner to ask him to keep it held for me.
Yeah maybe. I was also thinking might have to do with break-in. Heard that these speakers need quite a bit. And in this case, demo unit so no break-in needed haha. I’m curious to check out the tweeter to see if it’s in good condition (I imagine it is, as this is a pretty high end shop - they mainly sell Dynaudio’s Contour and Confidence line, along with Higher end options from Focal, Piega, etc. - speaking of which, anyone ever heard Piegas? I have a friend that works there so I was thinking maybe I might go shake a tree )
I’ve heard the master line source, all I have to say is wow with those speakers lol, but I would be assuming you are still looking for bookshelf’s (and something a tad more affordable)
The only bookshelf I have heard from them is the coax 311, and that was very good, but I actually preferred other speakers in that price range