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Help with narrowing down speaker choice

I've been struggling with final choice for a speaker. First, I have a small to medium sized room (16 X 13 X 9). I want an intimate speaker and I own tube amplification. I listen to and like Jazz, Folk, and Rock in that order.

The speakers not need to be true full-range but they need to be close. I currently own the Thiel CS 3.6 speakers and they're very close to full range. I really like my Thiels, but I'm looking for the next level. I wish to better the Thiels in resolution and natural sound, or that real instrument sound. I especially would like to see an improvement in pinpoint imaging. The Thiels are good at this but not great. BTW - My tube amplification excels at bass, and the Thiels dish it out. I have no room for subwoofers, nor do I want sacfrifice a lot of bass being already spoiled.

Speaker placement enters into the equation, as the speakers must be away from the side walls, so no corners. I can move the speakers up to three feet from the rear wall.

The main speaker on my current list is the Horning Aristoteles, but I've only heard the Eufrodites. The Aristoteles are also in my price point of under $10,000. I will also be using a triode amp, so an efficiency of above 90 dB is needed, especially if I later wind up with a low watt amp. So, figure from 7 to 28 watts/ch triode.

Here are three speakers that are my current contenders, but I don't know if I'll get to hear them all. As you can probably tell, they all share a similar footprint:

Horning Aristoteles
Coinicident Super Victory II
Reference 3A Grand Veena
kennythekey
david12
1,398 posts
 
I think all 3 are good, having heard them all at different times. Personally, I didn't like the Coincident, which suprised me, after all the reports on them.
I have been looking for fuller range higher sensitivity speakers too and went to RMAF in 09 to search them out. I know you don't want other recommendations, but I am giving you 2 anyway. Firstly Silverline, the Boleros which are costly at about $13000, well it's costly to me. I enjoyed them very much.
The second and the one I bought and recommend, is Daedalus. I bought the Da-R Mas monitors, which are rated down to 38HZ, but have a deep fast natural sounding base. They are less than half the cost of the Boleros and exceptionally good value for the money. I bought those and they are my last speakers and yes I know everyone says it's their last, but I mean it
elevick
2,439 posts
 
I just looked at your system. Thiels really do like more power than 40 watts. Personally I found the sound characteristics on Thiels and Coincidents to be fairly similar. The difference is that Coincidents will sing with 5 watts. Both are very accurate, uncolored with tons of detail.
kennythekey OP
558 posts
 
Thanks guys.

David - I checked out the Daedalus at RMAF 2010 because they were a contender and are still a possibility. I need to hear them again under different circumstances. They sounded different on Saturday than they did on Sunday. I liked them on Sunday, but they were lacking in bass, IMO. This was an ailment shared by most of those smaller hallway rooms, IMO. Anyway, they're in the back of my mind like some others.

Elevick - I have a unique custom amp that plays my Thiels to my fairly loud and normal listening level, with the volume control set at Noon. I have plenty of headroom to crank it up further. This amp transformed my Thiels to new levels from what I had before. I can only imagine, what this amp would sound like on better speakers with better synergy.
mapman's avatar
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mapman
15,679 posts
 
The Tonians are one I would want to consider in your case.

Larger performance tweaked Klispch La Scala, Horn, or Cornwalls are another.

A lot of people like Zu. Also one I would consider.

The best speakers I have hard that fit your bill were a pair of custom GOTO horns, but cost of these is probably out of your range and these are not easy to come by.

Shindo Latour is another I would want to audition if I could afford them.

maggies or Quad ESLs are also options perhaps assuming your tube amp has some power to drive these less efficient but generally tube friendly designs.
kennythekey OP
558 posts
 
Thanks, Mapman.

That's the second Tonian recommendation, so on the list they go.
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