Next Upgrade: Speaker Recommendations Please

Forum Experts, I need your knowledge and experience again. I am building an "affordable" two channel stereo system and have recently purchased a Marantz PM6005 amplifier and Pro-ject Debut Carbon Esprit DC turntable and have Pioneer SP-BR22-LR speakers. The speakers are "okay", but okay just isn't good enough.

I'm once again turning to the forum for recommendations, this time for new speakers. Please see below for relevant details:

• My budget is around $1000, but feel free to recommend speakers slightly higher than this, since deals can be found on different audio equipment websites and possibly eBay.
• My room is pretty large, but my listening location is not too far from the speakers.
• I do not have a preference of floor standers over bookshelves, but would like good speaker stand recommendations for any suggested bookshelves.
• I don't have to have brand new speakers if there are some really good used/vintage speakers to be had.
• I listen to numerous styles of music including jazz, singer-songwriter, adult alternative, and rock. Not much rap, heavy metal, or techno in my library.
• The Marantz doesn't have a sub out, so I'm only look at main speakers
• I've done tons of research and consistently see the following brands and models listed in my price range:
  • KEF Q300, Q500, Q700 (deal at A4L - $479.99 open box with 5 year warranty)
  • B&W 684S2, 685S2, 686S2
  • Wharefdale Diamond 10.x series
  • Focal
  • Definitive
  • PSB
• I don't have a local audio shop (to my knowledge) where I can audition any of these speakers.

I've tried to provide all the relevant details needed for a solid recommendation. If something is missing that would help in recommendations, let me know and I'll provide the info. Thanks!

 

Your budget is 1K? Your room is big?
Avoid Focal and B&W.
Consider a pair of pre-owned floor standers.

 

Your Marantz makes about 50 watts a channel so look for a speaker that has a sensitivity of close to or better than 90db. And There is no substitute for a proper in home audition.


http://www.musicdirect.com/p-15494-wharfedale-diamond-107-tower-speakers-pr.aspx

90db. $800 for the pair.

 

+1 on these. Very efficient. Will fill a medium to large room. For the money, a nice revealing, neutral, balanced speaker.

 

http://bham.craigslist.org/ele/5150452979.html

That ad has been up long enough he'll probably take less.

 

You're near the speakers? Get some good standmounts and take it from there. You're not trying to fill the room with sound but get the best sound for your listening location. Big difference!

 

I'd get these- a real bargain
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rogers-1a-P...or-Speakers-/121646687148?hash=item1c52b523ac

 

It's a few hundred north of $1000 but Vandersteen 1Ci speakers would be nice.

 

Used Klipsch Cornwalls

 

That's what I was going to suggest. Great jazz speaker. The piano and female vocal reproduction on those are outstanding.

 

Big room, try and find some used 2 series (older model) Vandersteens....

 

There's a brand called Tekton. You might check them out. I don't own nor have I heard a pair but they have a good efficiency rating.

 

PSB

 

Infinity Primus 363. Amazon. Period. Done.
Very Nice. Sorry so inexpensive. Don't tell everyone.

 

A friend of mine and I have been running these for a while now. I got them on his recommendation, and they've handled with aplomb some thorough shootouts with quality gear of a good range, revealing qualitative differences between shootouts of cartridges, tables, amps, and phono preamps. I expect they'll be the last thing to go in my system, because I expect I'll have to spend quite a bit/find an insane deal to top them. But they're definitely in the Denon DL103 category of "punching significantly above their price." Given, I haven't heard a million different speakers, but the friend who sold me on them used to work in a hifi store, so he's heard a good deal more, and has happily piped VPI, Linn, Cayin, and Cary through the P363s.

Amazon regularly has them for $200 a pair, shipped. If you're looking for something you can brag about, these aren't the speakers you want. If you're looking for something that'll serve you damn well until you've done some serious upgrading to your other equipment, these are the speakers you want. Set up a camelcamelcamel.com watch and make do until that pricedrop email comes.

That said, I'm gonna follow this thread as research for when I'm done with my other planned upgrades

 

You could do the Dennis Murphy mods to your Pioneer speakers. It makes for a nice improvement. You can even take the mods a few steps further for an even greater improvement.

For stands, look at Skylan or if you can find any, the Sanus Ultimate Foundation stands are excellent.

 

Very recent experience for me would also lead me to suggest considering active speakers. Not all are designed solely for the mastering suite...

 

Check out the Omega Super 3 XRS... better than any budget multi-way speaker by far, it generally takes speakers $5k+ to beat them but it depends on what your priorities are. If you need to play rock at high SPL they might not be so great but with simpler jazz/classical, etc.. they are a top choice regardless of price. They are comparable to Feastrex and Voxativ without the ridiculous price.

 

As previously mentioned, the Tekton Design brand offers a good pair of speakers called the Lore for under $1k.

Currently there is a nice pair of Zu Audio Omen speakers on eBay being offered for a Buy Now price of $795.00 + $150 for shipping.

The Zu is a an attractive priced high end speaker with 98db high efficiency which will give you a real lifelike sound in you room. They have excellent construction with quality parts all the way. Read some of the reviews on the net of these speakers and will you see that that they are excellently reviewed.

 

Since you have the Pioneers designed by Andrew Jones, you may want to consider his new Debut speaker line for ELAC that releases next month:

http://elac.us/speakers

I have not heard them myself but the B5's were demoed at the Newport audio show and many were amazed, considering it's very low price. Google some reviews.

 

Wow! This thread slowed down and I didn't receive any e-mails notifying me of new posts until today. During that time, and based on several online reviews (especially this one: http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/psb-imagine-x2t-tower-loudspeaker/), I purchased some PSB Imagine X2Ts from the Crutchfield Scratch and Dent outlet. They just arrived yesterday, and I've only been able to listen to them for about 30-45 minutes and through old 16 or 24 gauge speaker wire from Radio Shack.

VERY brief initial thoughts:

1. My Marantz PM6005 drives these speakers with ease. At approximately 40% volume, they were plenty loud enough to fill the relatively large room in which my stereo system currently resides.
2. I can hear nuances in songs I've never heard before such as relatively quiet brush work in jazz and soul albums, or the simple slide of a guitarist changing chords in more acoustic tunes.
3. As with all speakers, proper listening position makes a HUGE difference in sound quality. Listening while standing or walking around really takes out some of the bass response of these speakers and limits the crispness of the highs. When I sit tweeter high 6-8 feet away, the sound is complex and very pleasing.

That's it for now. I have some 12 gauge Belden speaker wire on the way from BJC, and look forward to getting everything hooked up and doing some extensive listening.

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll keep this thread handy in case I have an issue with the PSBs, or in case I just want to try some additional speakers.

 

One year back I was looking for speakers for my Marantz PM 14 s 1
After taking audition of half a dozen speakers I finally settled with PMC 23
They are bit expensive but I find them THE BEST speakers in mid range budget approx 2000 pounds

 

All of Tekton's stuff is made in the USA as well, which is cool, and their speakers start at $650. They're supposed to be really good.

http://www.tektondesign.com/lore-m.html

 

I really like my Emptek's (RHB):

http://emptek.com/r55ti.php

 

I am happy with the Wharfdale 10.7 towers I bought from Music Direct. They don't sound too great before break-in though.