Speakers with the most detailed midrange? (non-ESL/planar)


Anyone care to give their opinion on what dynamic speaker has the most detailed/revealing midrange? Not including electrostatics or planar speakers. Approximately between the frequencies of 400Hz to 3kHz. Also, just to clarify what I mean by detail: when there is a musical passage that entails many different layers of instruments, the speakers' ability to separate all the elements so all the instruments are heard clearly and nothing is obscured. Also the ability to retrieve every last bit of information on a recording, such as random sounds in the studio, distortion in recordings and reverb tails.

As far as price goes... 2 categories... below $12,000 USD (new) and any price range. Thanks.
woofer72
gosta - sounds like you have an awesome selection of speakers. The SCM150s are mammoth!

How would you compare the midrange detail on the Lipinski's to the ATC? Do the L-707s have the ability to separate the many layers on congested recordings and reveal micro-detail like the ATCs?

Thanks for the other suggestions. I have pretty much completely ruled out bass reflex speakers. The only bass reflex design I've heard that was ok was the PSI A-25M. They sound fast despite being ported. However, I've read that at higher volumes even their bass frequencies start acting up. I was excited to check out the Unity Audio Boulders because of the sealed cabinets, but when I finally heard them (I think mk2), I was disappointed that the midrange was not as detailed as the ATCs. The Boulders had fantastic drive though. 

PS- No offense to anyone about my thoughts on bass reflex designs. They are just not my preference now, even though I've had a few bass reflex design speakers in the past that I've thoroughly enjoyed.
@woofer72
nice to find your comments. We seem to be on the same path. Wanting as much details as possible, but still a balanced and enjoyable sound - also sometimes at a very high listening volume. As far as I know of today ATC is the benchmark for this.
Since you are familiar to pro monitors, maybe try the new and highly praised monitors Kii three and/or Dutch & Dunn. I bought the Lipinskis from a master of cello with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra that just had bought the Kii’s for himself.
I’m not sure the Bolders have less details in the mid/highs. They use an interesting Elac element with the Jet5 ribbon mounted inside a flat mid. Don’t know if that one exists in any other speaker? However, the Boulders produce plenty of bass from the two woofers and in a not perfectly treated room you need to take that bass down to hear anything above 200Hz :-). I use an Antimode 2.0 for this (and soon Sonarworks) but will ask Unity if it might be a good idea to decouple one of the woofers. As a matter of fact also the studio I bought the Boulders from did "upgrade" to the Kii’s!
I’m using the Lipinskis for a more near-field listening and havn’t really compared them to the big ATC. You need to do a qualified A/B test to be sure about any real differences. What I can say is that I haven’t heard The wild, the innocent & the e street shuffle more beautiful, detailed and with a better soundstage than through these. Also, sitting closer to speakers and listening at lower volumes naturally makes you hear more details.
I’m very satisfied with the idea I got a couple of weeks ago and that was to remove all subs from my main listening room (which isn’t that large at all) and instead use the ATC woofers as subs to the different monitors I got there. Favourite today actually is the combination of the ATC woofers and the Tannoy DC10a as a monitor with a crossover at about 140 Hz. Suppose I will try the Lipinskis in a while. Since a couple of months I’m intrigued by the Tannoy sound. Very dynamic, lively and fun to listen too. A little coloured compared to the ATC. Good luck and please report of your findings!
@woofer72

I use ATC EL150A with their P6 amplifier and new ATC built tweeter. I also have the C6 subwoofer which I don’t use for 2 channel stereo (not needed even in a large room).

The new ATC tweeter is worth having. Having owned for years the SCM 20, 100 and C6CA, I highly recommend the 150. All ATC are superbly balanced but the 150 is IMHO their best. The ATC 15 inch woofer is just superb. Not many think about woofer quality with ATC because of their mid range but IMHO they have the best 15 inch woofer on the market. ATC actually got started with Supertramp, AC/DC and other stadium rock bands of the late 70’s - based purely on the quality of their woofers that were used in arrays of bass bins. The woofers in their hi-fi and pro studio speakers are massive short voice coils in a long gap - ultra linear response. A big part of mid range clarity is down to the woofer performance - don’t under estimate this factor!


Klipsch Heresy IIIs somehow get midrange right with their 1.75" titanium diaphragm driven horn. I was surprised by this as I'd never previously owned a horn speaker for my hifi rig needs, but there it is. These things are relatively inexpensive for a USA made item, and in my ever humble opinion are way underrated world class speakers. I use these with 2 REL subs that do a great job of fooling me into thinking I'm having more fun.
@gosta -
The Kii Three wouldn't have the SLP capability I'm looking for unfortunately. From what I've read about the Dutch & Dutch they are a bit shy of the ATCs in mid detail. The big attraction about them is their ability to adjust to rooms. Cardioid bass etc. I know you can't go on what you read but I find its a good starting point to reduce the amount of speakers one has to audition. I would still like to hear both of these.

You make an interesting point on the Unity Audio Boulders. I think perhaps the room I heard them in was not treated well as the bass was a bit too much and the mids were very obscured. I was very disappointed. That mid/tweeter coaxial driver is certainly interesting. Elac uses it in some of their higher end speakers. I've never heard those.

If you ever do A/B compare the Lipinski to the ATC, please let me know what you think. I would be very curious of the outcome! Since the Lipinski is based on the Dunlavy/Duntech design, it really is a world class speaker. Do you have the yellow cones or the newer upgraded black cones? The newer versions have thicker and larger cabinets for better bass. They also claim a smoother midrange, but I'm not sure how they achieve that. Perhaps an upgraded capacitor in the crossover. I think a pair of Lipinski with a sub or two would be fantastic. In a two way design, I'd be concerned about the distortion on the mid frequencies at higher volumes. 

Regarding smaller speakers in conjunction with subwoofers, I'd be curious to hear the Magico Q1 as well as the newer Paradigm Persona B with the beryllium drivers (!). Personally I refuse to pay the money Magico is asking for the Q1 for bookshelf speakers but I would be curious to hear them and see how detailed they are compared to ATC. The Paradigms seem very interesting, unfortunately they are ported bass reflex designs. I can't deal with unfocused bass. One trick I have found useful to bypass the bass reflex design is to crossover to the subwoofer at a higher frequency than the frequency the port is tuned to. I did this with my Dynaudio Air20s and the bass tightened up drastically.