Speakers to replace Martin logan Prodigys

During CES, it became clear to me that price has nothing to do with satisfaction when it comes to loudspeakers. I heard several speakers below $2000/pair that were much more musical than 90% of the rest of the speakers I heard.

The point being that restricting yourself to a price range because you believe you will find a better speaker in a higher price range than in a lower price range may be the wrong approach.

A short list to consider if you can get beyond the concept of spending less: Silverline SR 17.5, Silverline Prelude, Totem Arro, Totem Sttaf, ACI Sapphire XL (sold direct with 30 day in-home audition), Harmonic Precision Caravelle (these are not inexpensive, but have great user reviews and also available with in-home audition). Silverline has a new $650/pair mini monitor that had everyone in the room laughing in disbelief at how good they sounded.

Placement is a large consideration in your room. For example, restricting placement close to the rear wall eliminates many floorstanders due to the tendency for the rear wall to overemphasize bass. The smaller floorstanders from Totem and Silverline sound terrific, and they benefit from placement near a rear wall.

Also, consider the placement of your listening chair. You want to sit in a position that puts you out of a node, otherwise you will hear problems similar to those realized by improper speaker placement.

I have been told that the Von Schweikert speakers can be placed up to the back wall because of there design.

That's not correct according to what I have read, and my own experience with VR4. I believe you will experience some significant bass boom and midbass hump placing VR4 near the rear wall, but only trying it and listening will tell. They should sound very good with the Wolcott/Wadia combo.

The VR1 monitors can be placed near a rear wall. Doing so helps their bass response.

Thats for the new MKII so yea it may not work but that is what i was refering too.
Btstrg (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)

Does this refer to the VR4Jr MK II or the VR4 Sr MK II, or a different model than either?

If the quote refers to one of the recent VR4 models, then it is commenting on a speaker that is completely different than the VR4 you own.

My VR4 Gen III HSE could never be placed near a rear wall. Even out into the room 2 feet, they have prodigious bass. Frankly, they should be out into the room even further than two feet, but like you, I simply don't have the space to allow it.

Small floorstanders or monitors supplemented with a sub is what I'd suggest for your room size.

With your Wolcott amps, the choices are really wide open.

You can run a sub using a pair of Speaker Level Converters available from ACI. You connect the positive and negative leads of the converters to the speaker taps on your Wolcotts, and then you connect the RCA ends of the converters to the line level inputs of the subwoofer. Volume is controlled from your Wadia just like normal.

Depending on the distance of the sub from your amps, you will also need appropriate length RCA interconnects (you don't need expensive ICs for the sub), and female RCA>RCA connectors. All these are available from ACI.