speakers for classical music

I am now totally off B&W speakers, because I kept destroying them! I had the 803D.

David,

If you like to drive speakers loud and particuarly realistic dynamics/spl then this is generally what happens. Go horns or pro speakers would be my suggestion. Consumer designs generally are never required nor do they claim to reproduce realistic music levels so it is unfair to push them so hard.

stop looking , go to the new quad 2805 period.-

I use Altec Santiago for orchestral music....

I listen almost exclusively to classical. . . 15% large orchestra. . . lots of small chamber, piano, vocal soloists, occasional modern female vocalists. I second whole heartedly the recommendations for the Vienna Acoustic brand for this application. I own a pair of Mahlers myself. One thing to bear in mind is that Vienna speakers may sound slightly woolly if not driven stoutly by relatively powerful amps with high damping factors. . . but with appropriate amps they sing with a finesse, transparency and a controlled authority second to none, and their micro/macro dynamics is simply superb. I fell in love with them at RMAF 2006 after listening to dozens of regretably disappointing suites, including rooms featuring much more expensive devices.

i too listen to classical music, as i am right now as i am writing. timbre is number 1. dynamics are at the bottom of the list.

there is one speaker which is least inaccurate in the midrange, namely the quad 57. instruments sound natural and have most of the timbral cues to present a very realistic sound. yes, they have weaknesses and flaws. all speakers do. thus, i would select electrostatic speakers, to minimize timbral inaccuracy. i find most cone designs problematic as to reproducing timbre accurately.