Speakers with imaging "Free of the box"

I too am a sucker for the disappearing speaker that can project a large, defined and believable sound stage. Had you asked me this question a year ago, I would have resonded without doubt that the Totem Mani's can do this as well as anybody (within what I consider to be reasonable price points).

I have of course gone to all Totem speakers as a result of this. I am still a strong believer in Totem speakers and their ability to perform in this type of desired situation. In my mind, the Mani 2s and the Arro models are the best for this, but both are limited to the size of the room they can fill. Yes, I am selling some of these, but still am a very strong believer in this brand and will continue to support and recommend them for a long time.

I have since gone to the Von Schweikert VR4 jr (just right) speakers and feel that they present an excellent stage and do a great job of disappearing. While I have only set these up for about a week, I have been extremely impressed by them. These present a much bigger speaker feel and presentation while still being capable of presenting the questioned features of this thread.

If your budget is less limiting than mine, I would/could strongly recommend the Wilson Duettes. I listened to them two weeks ago in a largish room and they were terrific. At $11,000, in my opinion they may just be the bargain of the Wilson line-up. They were not bright (using Wilson's newest tweeter) and they couldn't hit the absolute bottom of the sound spectrum. They did not congest at high volumes (frequently this is a room issue as much as anything else). Buy these speakers - if you don't love them, then I will buy them from you (at the regular 50% off list price, of course).

Tvad,

My Arro speakers are listed at the price you state but include a REL Q 108 sub. The combined price of the Arros speakers and the sub is at less than half of the retail price! I think at least, not sure what the retail on the Arro speakers really is? I believe the REL price is $995 MSRP!

Oh, and I ended up ordering the Duettes, they will be delivered within the next two weeks. New with warranty and dealer installation.

But I was just kidding about the 50% off, I know they are a brand new speaker. It was more of a plea to get em at a great price. Anybody in SW Michigan interested in hearing the Duettes can contact me. Give me a couple of weeks for the installation though. And no, I don't have a $100,000 worth of electronics to drive them, much more common base electronics.

Rdb001, I got the Duettes, my note was to Tvad. They are an Anthrocite Black (or something like that) and are really a very deep maroon/brown. Almost like the BMW Panama brown metalic in color with a bit more maroon. Just had them delivered and installed yesterday. High WAF level (told her I had to sell two pair of totems to be able to pay for them!!!!;-)

Last night they ran with a Conrad Johnson SS amp. Today I am going to try them with a Pass Labs amp and at some point with a Golden Tube SE 40 amp.

As they were a demo pair, they are already fairly well broken in. I have a bit of corner correction to do in the room in one corner, but they do sound very good. I have not hooked up my subs with them yet, as I want to get a feel as to whether I really need the subs in the subject room (which is not my primary listening room). I also need to get new speaker cable (30 feet!!!! yikes) for them.

Sound better with the screens on in my environment and the tweeter on these speakers is much better than many of the other Wilson speakers (WP/Cub) I have listened to. I will post more in two weeks after more time.