Best bookshelf speakers


I’m building my first high fi system after being more of a portable audio person. I want to start with the speakers. Space is limited so bookshelf speakers are a must.

Preferences:
Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth.
Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows
Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz
But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music
Smaller is better but SQ is most important
A speaker that sounds good with different amps but also scalable with high quality sources
Wide sweet spot - I wont have money for a great amp at first but want them to be scalable for later

These speakers have caught my eyes - any thoughts on them?

Ascend Sierra 2s - Ribbon = dispersion limitations?
BMR Philharmonitor - See above. Also massive.
Buchardt S400/S300 - Wary of the sudden hype train and limited info
Silverline Minuet Grande - Limited info
Reference 3A De Capo - This caught my eye as a potential endgame speaker if I could blow up my budget a little. But concerns about BE tweeter as well as some potential snake oil stuff (cryogenic treatment (!?)), exaggerated sensitivity claims and wonky measurements put me off.

What else should I be looking at?

Edit: I could have sworn I had <$2,000 in the title... Anyway, my budget is 2k.

stuff_jones

Showing 2 responses by cooper52

Weighing in here based on my own experience: Of the speakers under discussion, I’ve heard/owned a pair of Proac Response 1SCs which were mentioned some posts ago (these spent about 10 years in my system before a change of amplification dictated something larger). I replaced them with Proac Response D2s, which seemed a bit bright and I didn’t like the way their treble and mids balanced. I’ve auditioned Silverline Minuet Grands, as well as several models of Fritz Speakers. Fortunately, both of these companies are based very close to where I live so they were willing to bring the speakers to my house to let me audition them in my own system.

My impressions of the Fritz and Silverline speakers were generally favorable, but they didn’t quite fit my own taste. The Proacs came closer, in the sense that they offered a very detailed and sharply defined sound as well as excellent stereo imaging. Proac has what I consider a proprietary "house" sound which I can’t describe in words but know it when I hear it. It’s a sound that appeals to me, but maybe not everybody. Fritz (who is a very nice guy, BTW, and extremely knowledgeable about his craft) emphasizes balance and smoothness, but for me, at the expense of "edge," that is, they tend to smooth out the sharply defined outlines of the instruments. They’re excellent speakers in all respects, just not exactly to my taste. The Silverlines seemed to be all about "oomph," so if you like room-filling timpani or bass drums or, say, the cannons in Tchaikovsky’s "1812 Overture," these are for you.

What I haven’t seen mentioned here are the speakers I finally settled on, which I think are in your price range: Ryan R610s. These are available from some retailers, so their company is not exactly a "cottage industry." I found mine here on A’gon slightly used, but that just means I didn’t have to spend however-many-100s of hours breaking them in. These are magnificently balanced and smooth like the Fritz’s, have all the bass you’d probably ever need in a small(ish) room, image extremely well, and illuminate the music without coloring it. The edges aren’t quite as sharp as the Proacs, but the overall sound is far more pleasing to my ear. If you can audition these, I highly recommend doing so.

http://ryanspeakers.com/Products/Products/R610.html
Best of luck in your search--there are so many good options out there!

Stuff_Jones: The one Silverline speaker I heard (last year) was the Minuet Grand, as that's the one I specifically requested. Fritz was kind enough to bring over several models of his speakers: Rev 5, Rev 7, Carbon 7 (not the SE, if I remember correctly), Carerra 7(extremely nice speakers, those), and a pair of one-off floorstanders (an experiment, according to Fritz) with a ribbon tweeters that I got to audition in my system for a week. This was a couple of years ago, so I only have the most general recollection of what I heard.