2. speakers
  3. 131598-96512

what speakers to buy

so this is my 1st time posting. the question is what speakers. i am going into this blind trying to put together a decent system on a budget. i live in a city where bose is considered the high end of high end and the nearest audiophile shops are hours away.
over the years i have owned a lot of vintage gear and still collect some of it. solid state and tube. some of the tube gear was marantz, macintosh, dynaco, heathkit, radio craftsmen, pilot etc. also the usual solid state marantz, pioneer, kenwood, adcom. speakers jbl, polk, altec (model 19 and vott), paradigm, klipsch, bozak, sansui, AR, advent. all the usual suspects
so far i have purchased a copland tube pre cta-305 and a pair of rogue audio m180 amps. all mint condition all under a year old for under half price of new. i also have a denon DP-60L TT 
(with sumiko pearl cartridge)
speaker budget is around 5000 give or take a 1000. if i'm patient i think i can find something that was originally in the 12-20k price range for what i want to spend.
so far i am leaning towards ew andra ii, dali euphonia 800, canton reference 3.2, revel studio ii. size is also a factor and all of these are within that limit.
i have a fairly large area open concept living /dinning and breakfast nook with high ceilings.
and i know "dont buy without listening" but not an option
so looking for some opinions/options

after speakers i will be getting tuner, cd and music server, current interconnects and speaker wire are all ZU mission


dragonbutx
inna
5,245 posts
 
I would consider these too, especially with tube electronics.
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/full-range-jm-labs-utopia-alto-be-2017-09-24-speakers
inna
5,245 posts
 
You cannot audition speakers but, with great caution, you can listen to some systems on youtube. There is one company that recorded many systems at shows. Their recording quality is average at best but it is at least usually consistent. If you have good enough headphones you can hear the difference. I will not tell you what I liked most because it is far outside your range, even the least expensive models. This might help you focus on, say, a dozen of speakers. For $5k-$6k used there are so many good and very different speakers.
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
1,621 posts
 
You must remember that your open plan layout requires bigger speakers with alot of bass output. Here are a few things to consider:

1: Is the room very lively, if you talk loudly do you hear revereration of echo of your voice in the space, if it is very reflective then speakers which tend to sound bright might be a bad thing.

2: What kinds of music do you like to play? 

3: How loud do you play?

The Alto Utopias that Inna mentioned are quite excellent they have a big sound and will work well with the Rouges which tend to sound a bit rolled off and lack a bit of bass control but the JM Labs also tend to be a bit on the Hard side, so the combination should be excellent.

How many squre feet is the room including ceilings? 

Leacy speakers are a steal they sound like $15k speakers yet are brand new at $7k and they have a smooth sound in the top, and a lot of bass. 

Older Kef 207.2 are awesome. 

The Dali Helicon 800 you mentioned are terrific as well.

Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
inna
5,245 posts
 
I like speakers with big sound and also those with as few drivers as possible. In addition, I think, and someone will corect me if I am wrong or not quite right, that Danish speakers are designed with solid state electronics in mind.
If you do eventually decide to get Focals, you might want later to upgrade your Rogue to VAC, Allnic or somethign else to take the sound to the next level. Cabling will be important too, isn't it always? Purist Neptune fluid cables should be great. Or Echole. I am sure some others would work fine as well if that's too expensive, something like Fusion Audio Magic line.
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
I'm throwing my vote behind the Focals too. I'm sitting here listening to 936's with no regrets. All Focals have a sound like not much else. You'll never put an amp behind them that's unworthy of them. Pass power is doing true justice to mine. I wouldn't suggest something as merciless as my build of an F5 for something with that Be tweeter. You want something more forgiving and almost anything is. 
More to discover