Classical speakers that do violins well??


All my serious listening is classical.

I hate nothing more than steely shrillness on violins or a glare on a soprano's voice.

I love nothing more than the faithful reproduction of the tone colors of unamplified instruments (the wood body of the violin and cello, the felt pad excting the sinewy strings of a piano).

YET, I hate bloated, indistinct, overly warm, billowy lower mids and upper bass (what I gather some think of as "musical").

Do you have any experience with speakers that might meet these needs for $2K, give or take (new or used)? Can be either floorstander or monitor, but with at least enough bass to perform decently on orchestral music. THANKS.
-Bob
hesson11
If you are able to accomodate them, I think Maggie 1.6's would do what you are asking for. In my opinion Aragons and Maggies are an excellent combination.

Duke
Duke, do you think the 1.6s sans subwoofer would cover the bass well enough for orchestral? I would imagine they would sound very nice on strings.
Pubul57, the 1.6 would indeed sound very nice on strings and most things. There is of course some trade-off, and I think you probably nailed it - they don't dig down real deep. On the other hand, their pitch definition in the lower registers is superb. They have a natural enough tonal balance that imho they do not "need" a subwoofer. What the Maggies have is a broad, gentle, even subtle dip in the upper midrange/lower treble region that psychoacoustically balances out lack of very deep bass. That being said, restoring the missing deep bass is benefical as long as it's done unobtrusively.

Blending subwoofers with a dipole is a challenge, and one that I have done some work on. If you'd like more information shoot me an e-mail, as I don't want to hijack the thread.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer
Oris 150 horn. Bartoli, Mutter & kissin sound superb. Serious bargains to be had here on 'gon' every now and then.No need for a sub. IMHO.