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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
nitewulf
277 posts
 
If you have an open area, you need largish speakers to fill it sound.  I recently purchased Legacy Signature SEs from Dave actually, and definitely love these. However, I also have a soft sport for Focals, and those Utopias are pretty high end. You can't go wrong with either brand IMO. They sound different however, Legacies are warm and engaginng, very high res mind you.  And Focals I always find to be very exciting to listen to, which is also a great thing.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
1,457 posts
 
Look at ProAc.  Some good deals used.  Most models are two-ways, yet lack nothing in bass.
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
you cannot listen easily at a dealers but you can 1. take road trips (or add a listening afternoon to a trip to a city), or 2. buy mailorder with a return privilege

for $5k I'd get Maggies - used 3.7i's can be had for $4k 

the question of what speaker to get is first of all what will work in your listening room

all speakers will benefit from being set up away from a corner or back wall (Roy Allison notwithstanding), but it is more important with Magneplanars and electrostatics

1st, you buy speakers (& then use positioning and room treatments to make them sound the best)
2nd, you buy amps to drive the speakers

you will then work to find the best source material for whatever way you are feeding the amps, LP or digital

I usually buy used CDs and rip them onto iTunes - if I really like the album I look to see if there are better recordings or masterings (and even for things recorded in the 1960s there can be better masterings or treatments to remove say wow & flutter on the aged Ampex used to make the original)
Ag insider logo xs@2x
gdnrbob
2,421 posts
 
+1 for nycjlee
+1 for John Rutan. He sells both Vandy and Pro Ac and can give you great information. (His Agon ID is 'audioconnection').
Speakers are a personal decision, don't let anyone railroad you. If you can make some time to visit a dealer, I heartily recommend it.
Prior posters have given you a lot of choices, so I hope you can try to audition a few.
BTW, Zu makes some great speakers, at a great price. Since they have a trial period, why not get a pair? All you lose is the shipping should you not like them.
Bob
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
Sorry, but I don't think GoldenEar makes anything that comes close to the Focal Utopia line. I don't even think their lineup sounds better than the Focal 900 series, except for maybe their Reference. 
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