$9000 speaker Orangutan or speaker + amplifier

Yes yes on the suggestion of Tannoys. Get the real deal, a speaker that will stay with you for decades and be supportable for decades. But, if you go with the Orangs, nice speaker.

Don't go for the Zu's....how can these guys stand the high distortion/harshness from these? I know of several people who had to get out of them after a few years due to fatigue, and I have direct experience. They get reeled in by dynamics and and driven away due to harshness. You never hear that about Orangs or Tannoys.

Kiddman,

I agree with you about the Orangutans, Tannoys and Zus. I like the Tannoy Kensingtons I heard at a local dealer. It sounds reasonably lively while not being exremely colored like many lively, higher efficiency speakers can be. But, like all other speakers, it has its weaknesses and strengths and requirements for coupling with other components. To me, there is a slight raspiness in the midrange that needs to be tamed with the use of the right kind of amp and careful setting of the controls on the speaker. Still, I enjoyed it very much.

Hi Larry,

Not surprised we agree....those traits are there, if folks want to ignore them, fine, but they ignore the reality.

Re: Kensigntons, they have a small degree of raspiness, but so much less than Zus....and so can the Orangutans. SETs help, but this is a coverup and like all coverups, not completely effective.

For no rasp Tannoy performance one must go to the pepperpot waveguide, which is on the Prestige series.

He seems to want DeVores, guessing he'll go there. That's not a mistake speaker, and they do not gloss so many things over like the Harbeths....which are pleasurable, but we have to be truthful and say that the honey is due to nice colorations and forgiving some of the real detail and bite of some instruments. To me, far better than harsh gritty speakers that over emphasize things yet seem so popular.

OP says "Of all the speakers I have heard (which are not many)...."

For that much outlay, unless that is a small amount for you, is there any way you can go out to do more listening?

RMAF is coming up.....

Before you go, if you could find some unamplified concerts (orchestral, chamber, jazz with no PA, which can be found in small venues, friends who play instruments) so you can get a dose, a good dose, of the real thing sitting in your short term memory?

Good and interesting impressions of various speakers. I'd suggest Coincident speakers as another easy to drive and very balanced and honest sounding speaker.Zu seems to be very polarizing brand, there doesn't appear to be a middle ground. There are people who's judgements I respect that say the new Druid V and the Definition IV models are excellent, I've heard neither.

Tonian Labs and Ocellia are two other considerations to mate with lower powered amplifiers. I agree wholeheartedly with Kiddman regarding listening to live acoustic instruments, there's no substitute for hearing the real thing. Live jazz (and also my own trumpet and our piano) are unbeatable templates. There's more full body and warmth of tone with live instruments that many speakers/components tend to thin out and sound artificially lean and colorless. Live is very vibrant with harmonics, tonal and timbral color
Good Luck,
Charles,