Another 2,000 Speaker Question

Undertaker4, I was waiting for the electrostat users to show up. You should make a point of listening to your friend's M-L, as the transparency of the midrange may be your cup of tea, and the lack of deep bass may not upset you. Abstract7's cautions are excellent, and you should heed them. As far as the preamp/no preamp debate goes, I think that if you like the tube amps sound, you should consider going with a tubed preamp as well. Going straight into the amps with a CD player will give you better dynamics (I actually tried this with my Jadis tubed preamp, which clearly softened the initial edge of transients but, again, in a way I find more approximates a concert hall) and probably a little more low level detail, but you may lose a little of the tube dimensionality and, all right, I'll say it, pleasing harmonic distortions(!). The main reason, though, would be for the possibility of using other sources, be they a tuner, SACD, DVD-Audio or, most importantly, vinyl. BTW, my brother is a guitarist as well (I am too, but only acoustic these days), and he also prefers using tubed guitar amps for the reasons you mentioned.

Again, thanks everyone. Has anyone had success with integrated amps from Jadis or Manley? I continue to read up on all this stuff, and was wondering if a relatively easy to drive speaker with one of these amps may be the ticket. Let's say I narrow it down to the Reynauds or the Newform Research; since I don't have a dealer for either one, what will be the differences that I hear? The big maggies are probably too much for my room, I guess, but some of the other speaker options sound great. The ss amp w/tube preamp sounds good too; how would that compare to a tube integrated? Thanks in advance!

undertaker, ewe mite wanna look into the pathos classic one integrated - this is a drop-dead georgeous integrated w/a tubed preamp & solid-state amp. also has remote. retails for ~$1900, i've seen used/demo's for ~$1k-$1.3k. may be there's still one f/s here on a-gon.

re: newform vs reynauds, whle i can't offer comparisons, unfortunately, perhaps ewe can get reynauds (or another *finalist*?) in yer house at the same time as, say, the newforms, w/a similar no-obligation audition - then ewe could compare 'em both & send back the one ya like the least. yule only be out the shipping - seems like it wood be a worthehile inwestment...

regards, doug

Undertaker, please don't lose fact, that which ever speaker you decide to audition, buy, demo etc. That you will be placing them on the long wall. Not all speakers and probably most will sound better on your short wall. I own Aerial 10t and this speaker will not work well on the long wall. One of the most or maybe the most critical factor in obtaining good sound starts with the room and placement. Maybe others can direct you to some sites about this subject. I suggest you find the best speakers in your budget that will work best in your particular room. Fuel for thought.

Thanks, Mikec. That was kind of why I had the Mag 3.5's in mind at the start of the thread, because the reviewer described his room dimensions as similar to mine, and said that he thought they did well in that setup. Unfortunately, I can't arrange the room the other way, because there are closets at one end, and the other wall in unusable as well for stereo. I'm glad you mentioned that point (due to that, does that mean that electrostatics would do better as a general rule, or does it change speaker to speaker?) I would love to know of some web sites that could give me more info. in this regard.