Great bookshelf or small towers suggestions


I'm looking to upgrade my main speakers for home theater/music setup.

Currently have Sound Dynamic 300 ti's that are about 16 years old. I have a Marantz 5009 AV receiver and some Orbs for side and back channels. I have a sound dynamic center speaker too. The room is 11x15 with a fairly low 7' ceiling. I want to replace the LR main and Center speakers.  Budget < $5K.

floorplan:  http://tinyurl.com/zd68dqf

Soundwise I am after improved brightness and up front treble and mids. I am not the biggest bass nut - a) I have downstairs neighbors and b) I've played drums for 40 years and have heard it all. I hate being bounced out of my seat every time stuff explodes and mainly want to hear dialog better for TV and clearer more sparkly acoustic pianos and spangalang of cymbals like they're in the room with me.

So far from what I've heard in stores, I liked the Magnepan .7's a lot. But they just won't fit the space. Too wide and didn't pass WAF. I listened to a few other speakers - mid level B&W's, Golden ear, martin logan, and so far little compared to the magnepans except maybe the BW 805D3's - which are way over my budget. I thought about looking for used 805d2's. I did like a pair of Focal 714's and could probably live with them. But this is the last pair of speakers I ever want to buy. So I keep coming back to thinking about the new 805's or something close.

I've been interested in a lot of the factory direct speakers like the Sierra Tower & 2's but it bothers me to buy speakers I can't hear first.

Any advice appreciated.

Thx!
wolfernyc
The Cremonas were replaced by the current Olympicas I believe.  The 2nd hand market will make them fit in your budget, but new, the Cremona or Olympica is fairly expensive.
Worth checking out the Mini Maggie 3 piece system, but with two of the bass units...not sure if it will work,, but I love mine in a 10x12 room with one bass unit...
Ah, - it was the Olympica I model not Guarnari that I heard in Best Buy. They were about $7K and did sound amazing. The sales guy was completely enamored with them in comparison to the 805D3.

Used Cremonas? Hmmm.  Where to even look other than ebay?


You don't say anything about potential speaker placement.  If you can pull them at least a bit away from the wall, I'd suggest trying out Reference 3A De Capo's.  I find them to be very immediate sounding, with good sparkle, but not over the top.  Their articulation is excellent for HT dialogue.  Bass certainly won't overwhelm you, but is satisfying for a stand mount.
In my floor plan link they kind of look closer than the actual speakers currently are. They're ~14" from the wall at present.  The TV isn't wall mounted and a low sanus media cabinet is there holding the tv and all of the gear.  So nothing needs to go directly against the wall.  But it can't come out much further.