Need a system for Chamber music--ideas?


My current system does well with larger scale works - orchestral, choral, etc, and also with solo works. Where it struggles is with chamber music. String quartets in partiuclar are a problem. It is essentially impossible to distinguish between the 1st and 2nd violins. Maggies are always going to struggle with this due to the side by side arrangement of the ribbon tweeters with the midrange panels. I could go two ways.
1. A completely distinct system in another room, using monitors. If I go this way, I might like a reccomendation on a tube integrated to pair with the speakers, and the speakers should be able to go close to the wall for flexibility. A concern here would be decent reproduction of piano-- don't want to create a new problem in listening to piano trios etc. I'd probably like to stay under 7K for the amp and speakers new or used.
2. A set of floor standing speakers or monitors to swing into place in my current system for listening to chamber. They should be below 80lbs each to facilitate moving. The maggies are going to stay for large scale works. I'll keep the current system in place, so the floor standers should work well (at least initialy) with high powered SS amps like my Cary 500.1's. Again, 7K-10K, new or used. Accurate timber and coherence, especially with violins, are imperitive. It will not be necessary for them to play above 90dB. Also, the speakers must be able to throw a convincing stage for string quartets. Speaker placement will be along a short wall in a 15.5 x 19 x 8' room. I do like the sound of Sonus Fabers. Might be open to Dali's. Wilsons in this price range are out, and I don't like Dynaudio, Theil, Aerial 7T's. Haven't heard Ref 3A Grand Veenas or Merlins but you hear good things about them. I will not buy speakers unheard, so I'm wanting to generate a list of speakers to audition. When I bought my maggies it was a 2 year process. Your thoughts please?
brownsfan
Frogman, I love deep thinkers. As usual, you comments are golden, and you articulated well my thoughts on the violin problem. To answer your question, no, I had not thought about a pair of MMG's. I've heard them, and they are great for the money. I'm going to have to chew on that idea a bit. Unfortunately, the maggie dealer here closed, but I could still do an in home trial.

I have thought very, very seriously about your initial suggestion regarding the Stax and Quads. I have a faint memory of the Stax speakers when they were new, and recall that they were very will regarded. I have not heard them.
Do you think the stax could be moved around fairly easily, or would there be risk of damage? I am in a position to be patient for another restored pair to come up for sale.

On the quads, I could see using them in a separate basement system eventually and driving them with a nice integrated tube amp. I would think my 1000wpc Cary's might get the quads into trouble pretty quickly no matter how careful I am.

Since I opened this thread, I had a chance to listen to some chamber on a friends 50K system using Joseph speakers. I came out of that session wondering if I am just not expecting too much. I heard a similar presentation on his system.

The Maggies are going to smear violins because of the design. I think you are right, the discontinuity between the ribbons and quasi ribbons is substantially decreased, but it isn't zero. I wonder if the dipole design is not also a contributor. But still, the comparison with my friends system was a good calibration. I'm going to need to think long and hard about how to proceed, and do plenty of auditioning.
Wow, what a nice compliment; thanks. The Stax are very easy to move around, being considerably smaller than the Quads. Don't know if you have seen/read these, but you may find these links interesting:

http://www.estatsolution.com/index.php?bod=7

http://www.onethingaudio.net/FOR/QUA/63/9512-QUA-63-REV-CS5.htm

Regards.