Another 2,000 Speaker Question

Thanks for the help, Sdzink and Swampwalker. The room is 15 by 20, and the speakers will go on the longer wall. Is this room big enough? On rock and electric blues, do you think that they will sound too bright, or can interconnects, source components, or amplification smooth this out?

I think the most important factors to consider are what your tastes are. You have already listed your musical tastes. Now it's time to consider the "type of sound" you enjoy. Perhaps make a list of the adjectives that you want to hear in your system. Warm, neutral, analytical. Aggressive, dynamic, laid back. Do your tastes lie in the bass and treble response of the speaker, or are you more interested in midrange presentation(the old "boom and sizzle" versus "Boston bland" argument). I do like the two speakers you mentioned, and was even a dealer for PSB. One thing I can tell you, the Gold i's are incredibly demanding loudspeakers. They require a monster amp to come alive. While that makes for dynamic sound, if you are more interested in music other than blues and rock, you may be better served by another choice. I am not sure if your next(or even the current McIntosh) will be tube or solid state, but that is a MAJOR consideration. If you will buy tube, you should definitely look at more easy to drive speakers. A short list for other brands you may want to consider include B&W, Coincident, Monitor, Triangle, and Vandersteen.

Thanks for the response, Trelja. It's very difficult for me to answer you, because your questions are so thought provoking (and I don't know if I know the language correctly), but I'll give it a shot. I think I would prefer the most neutral sound possible. For instance, when I put on Train a Comin and listen to Steve Earle play acoustic guitar, I want it to sound like an acoustic guitar, in real space (I am a guitar player, so I'm probably more of an expert on that instrument than others). I would guess that I prefer a good midrange than the bass/treble, since I prefer guitar and vocal tones over bass ones and trebly instruments (not that I'd want those muffled, obviously). I think I would rather have dynamic than laid back (if that means my recordings of Modern Jazz Quartet swing) and neutral rather than warm (if that means Robert Cray's guitar sounds like it did in the studio). I hope that helps. BTW the McIntosh is solid state.

Dunlavys should work fine and give you audiophile sound on the long wall with your room dimensions, but always best to listen for yourself. The SC-1V/A is worth checking out.

You may want to check out the Reynaud speaker line. You can read reviews at Audioreview.com for starters and search Audio Asylum forums for more info. I am an ex musician (mainly guitar but keyboard and clarinet as well, but no longer play after busting up a hand in an accident) and find even their least expensive model to be very true to the music. They are easy to drive (I am currently using 7 tube watts/channel) in a room similar in size to yours and ran them with a 50-75 watt/channell SS amps as well. The next step up from my Twins are the Trente's which retail for around $2400.00, the Twin's currently retail for approx. $850.00. They are a relatively new line in the US. If you contact the US distributor at ossaudio.com he should be able to setup a purchase with option to return scenerio with the dealer closest to you. I realize that my comments gush a bit, but most who hear a properly broken in pair of these speakers combined with decent equipment will feel the same way I suspect. They are exceedingly musical and get the instruments (those not requiring vey low bottom frequencies for support such as pipe organ, some concert drums and the like) right. My current set up with a 300b amp has "one" of the best piano and acoustic guitar sounds that I have heard and I am including planer speakers in this history.