Best Loudspeakers for Rich Timbre?

The often neglected subject of timbre in modern designs could be a major factor in explaining why some connoisseurs like Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note casually state that in their opinion audio reproduction has gone backwards in the last half century.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/parttimeaudiophile.com/2018/01/25/peter-qvortrup-high-fidelity-the-de...

They are talking predominantly of the era in which tubes and high efficiently drivers were used both in analogue recording and playback systems. Innumerable lush, tonally rich recordings such as those by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Nat Cole, Peggy Lee, and innumerable Jazz artists still survive today as testament to fabulous recording quality of those times.

The main focus in the modern era often seems geared towards the pursuit of cold fine detail through ever increasing bit rates and oversampling techniques. Impressive in the short term but rarely satisfying in the long. At least for some.

One seems to appeal mainly to the intellect, the other to the heart. It's always difficult to generalise but I think Qvortrup is basically right if you're looking for music reproduction which speaks predominantly to the heart. Generally speaking, I've heard few loudspeakers that employ paper as a cone material which sounded awful, and even fewer that used polypropylene that sounded great.

So many great suggestions here, the Joseph Audio ones being intriguing with their aluminium drivers and the Focal Sopra review which namechecked another metal driver loudspeaker, the fabulously expensive Vivid Audio Giya G2.

Thanks for all the suggestions, it's reassuring to know that timbre has not been forgotten by everyone. 

To echo previous recommendations- you should really hear the Legacy Audio Aeris. I've heard them with tube amps, solid state amps and Class D amps and every time they sound incredible. If you pair it with their Wavelet you can use the tone controls to adjust the speaker's brightness/warmth to your liking- it's really flexible and helpful because you can fine tune them in your room and aren't stuck like you are with most speakers.
Funny enough, the recordings you referenced as tonally rich like Sinatra used Legacy Audio speakers, in addition to Nat King Cole and Elvis.They're simply the most dynamically capable, full range and revealing speaker around, and if you want to hear the real timbre on those recordings, it will show you!

It's nothing short of foolishness to suggest speaker technology has gone backwards in the last 50 years. We barely use terms like "east coast", "west coast", and "British" to describe the sound of speakers. That's the case because what the entire industry and listening public consider neutral is more narrowly defined. And it has to be because this is a disappearing hobby. Products can't afford to be jazz, classical, or rock speakers. They must do everything well to be successful and we'll reviewed. If somebody wants to add color to the sound, it really should be done up stream. Today's speakers are generally capable of expressing whatever coloration one chooses to inject with component. 

As for cables, they're vastly easier to design that even a basic buffer. You get a few quality conductors, twist them or wrap them as you please, attach the required connectors, and bam, you have a cable. Not exactly electronics engineering. It's not even as complicated as making a SAS or USB type-C cable. 

Spending $10 on cables would get anyone nowhere, unless you steal these cables and $10 is your taxi bill.
It is remarkable that many don't understand that cables are components, they are equally important. Another mistake is to think that they are easier to design than electronics, speaking of high level.
How to best stretch your dollar when upgrading cannot be answered in general, sometimes it should be active component upgrade, sometimes cables or power cords, and yet at times either would be a correct path, just different.

Roger that. With my ARC Ref 6 and Ref 150SE, cabling made a huge difference. In my room, for my ears, with my gear, Cardas Clear speaker cable and Cardas Clear Beyond XLR's made everything "right", It was nothing less than shocking how much difference I heard among some pretty well respected cables. I've said this elsewhere in this forum-I suspect that those who don't hear much difference between cables have equipment that for one reason or another don't put much demand on cabling. I believe that both the ARC pieces do in terms of getting the best out of the preamp and that the DeVore's do in terms of getting the best out of the amp. The truth of timbre was apparent with some but not all of the competitors but with the Cardas, timbre and spacial relationships and transients and bass weight all reached new heights. I don't sell Cardas. I am not in the biz. There are quite likely other brands of cables that would have done the same job. 
As I interpret Prof's point, you have to distinguish between color saturation and accurate timbre. As an owner of DeVore O/93's I would say that they do a blend of both. I wish I could say otherwise, but they are not the last word on timbral accuracy. But they portray timbre in a believable way and they ever so slightly emphasize timbre. I'm not sure who it was, but one of S'Phile's reviewers criticized the DeVore O series as sounding a bit "woody". I reluctantly agree, but I have come to find it a virtue and not a defect. The woodiness is so slight and complimentary to virtually everything played that it reminds me of the importance of judiciously implemented oak in wine. It is not perfectly neutral but perfectly neutral in audio is a) not realistic and b) not particularly enjoyable. It's not realistic because playing back a performance though two loudspeakers is never going to be totally realistic. Compensation is necessary to create the illusion of recreating the original. 

fsonicsmith,


Excellent comment!


I believe I know just what you are talking about in terms of a "woody" timbre and compensating toward real life.


I'm pretty nuts about correct, organic sounding timbre so that's always been job one for any speaker I have owned.  The problem has been for me that instrumental timbre often doesn't sound organic, but more glazed and electronic/plastic through most speaker systems.  I had usually found the best I could do was pick a speaker (and with judicious amp choice) that had traits consonant with what I like about real life sounds.  A number of speakers I've owned and ones I've liked have had a somewhat "woody" character or timbral tone because that at least imparted an organic quality to sounds that helped many things sound more "real" to me - from acoustic guitars, string instruments, even the "woodiness" of the reed in a saxophone.  Or drum sticks, and even to some degree voices.  (I'm not talking about some ridiculous level of woody coloration, but more the sense that the sound is made of organic material, vs plastic, steel, and electrons).  


The Devores are one of those speakers that to my ears has a canny bit of coloration that is very consonant with how real sounds impress me, so in that sense they often sound more "natural" to me than other strictly more neutral (or other non-neutral) speakers.  


The Joseph speakers are more like the Hales speakers I have owned (and still own), where I get the sense of much reduced distortion/coloration revealing timbral qualities.  So I find the sound a bit more varied from such speakers.  But then, they also sometimes miss some of the particularly papery, organic sense of touch from the Devores, and some of the realistic fullness and weight.   So....it's always compromises.