Recommend me some speakers

I posted here fairly recently about my latest serious upgrade - moved from a modest yamaha AVR to a McIntosh c2500 / MC452 combo. Now I want to start thinking about my next major upgrade - speakers

I am just in the beginning stages. I am looking for a pair of floors standers up to $10k - I am not hell bent on having to spend 10k but that would be my limit. So, what do I want? That is the point, I have no idea....so many brands and so many choices. I guess I would like to at least start narrowing it down. Are there certain brands that have a proven solid track record of pairing well with Mcintosh gear?

I listen almost exclusively to the classic rock genre. The Beatles, Dylan, Springsteen, Zeppelin, Cream...etc. My listening room is part of a finished basement and is 12x16 with an open wall on one side. My speakers are along the short wall.

As far as sound signatures, imaging is important to me...I dig my mono records and if the image is even slightly off center is drives me to insanity. I also enjoy and appreciate a speaker with great mids and lows, like I am sure most people do. As far as high end speakers go, part of the reason I am seeking help is because I am relatively new to it. I own a pair of $1400/pr Canton GRE 490.2 right now....they were my entry speakers and were light years ahead of anything I had previously

When I got the mcIntosh gear some people recommended B&W diamonds. A local dealer seems keen on a company called PMC...apparently founded by a bunch of old school BBC engineers. I have never heard either brand and am open to any suggestions

I will not buy for a while but I am looking to at least start finding that set of speakers I can start working towards getting

 

At that level, something like some used Wilsons. Presuming you have a Wilson dealer reasonably close, inquire about trade-in Sophias or such. Also, Harbeth 40.1s (a different flavour.) Passive ATCs or (I agree) PMCs in that price range will be tough to beat as well. Note: the ATCs and PMCs aren't really floor standers, though; they'll require serious support.

 

I like Revel a lot better with McIntosh than B&W. You also may want to consider McIntosh speakers.

 

That's a great budget and for sure you can find a lot of speakers that will pair nicely with Mac ... not to mention that your amp can pretty much drive almost anything on the market! Sonus Faber, Harbeth, Aerial Acoustics and Vandersteen all come to mind right off the top of my head. There are some more esoteric choices out there such as Vapor Audio as well.

 

I own Gallo monitors and subwoofer, modded by Mapleshade. I love them. Great imagers. And a lot less than 10K. Also, monitors and a subwoofer might work better in a space of your size.

 

Perhaps the Sonus Faber Olympica II. I've heard good things about Revel and B&W with Mac as well. I'd also consider DeVore Fidelity Orangutan 0/93. McIntosh seems to mate well with a lot of brands.

 

I second the Devore O 93's. Just a wonderful speaker.

 

Saw the Olypica 3's today and they were beauties! Also saw the B&W Diamond 800D ... they were way out of my price range, but looks like the 803's would be at about my limit

 

If you have the chance to hear some PMC's, I'd certainly audition them. Current-production floorstanders like the Twenty Series 26 three-ways or the fact.8 two-way would both be at the high end of your price range but if you like imaging, you'll find much to like in either of those. The eerie clarity of those, especially the fact Series, paired with Mac would be interesting. If you were to buy used, the i-Series might be a bit reserved with Mac in front but an audition would tell the story. Any of the PMC's with their ATL transmission line cabinet designs will go low ...surprisingly low for a relatively small cabinet footprint. The big i-Series units like the IB2i or MB2i or the fact.12 will provide boggling bottom end but not at the expense of overall tonal balance. I've had fact.12's in the house now for a few months and if they're playing in the background while I'm doing something like SHF, they'll still do things that make me look up and grin... Really classy speakers.
Have fun!

D.D.

 

Any fans of Focal? Another set I was recommended to look into were the Focal 1038BE. Doing a little reading on them now and was just wondering what others thought about them here.

 

I have a pair of Olympica II's and love them. I run them with the Audio Research VSi60 and they are an excellent match, but I have also heard them many times with McIntosh. The dealer where I purchased them has them setup with McIntosh and I thought they worked great together. My general impressions are that sound-stage, detail, percussion & vocals are strengths of the Olympica IIs. They are smooth and rich, but also quite revealing of other equipment and also of the quality of the mastering of the music. I can hear when it's high quality recording, but haven't found them ruthless as far as making poor recordings unlistenable although you can definitely hear the difference. They do roll off below 40Hz, so if bass extension to 20Hz is critical for you they may not be ideal. I've been very happy with mine since I bought them about 6 months ago.

 

Maybe buy a pair of McIntosh ML10C, change the tweeters and midranges and hold onto your cash.

http://www.roger-russell.com/ml10dpg.htm

 

You will get lots of suggestions and of course the best bet is to audition whenever you can. I was in the same boat as you a few years ago and came across Internet Direct. I was skeptical but after researching the brands, the idea of buying on the web had a lot of merits. With no middle man more of the money goes into what you will be paying for -the actual product. You owe it to yourself to research the Sierra Towers made by Ascend. They may get you that 10k performance and save you quite a bit while getting there. I have the bookshelf version with the NrT upgrade and am still pleasantly surprised by the quality neutral sound I receive from them.

Enjoy the search it's always a fun time when getting ready to upgrade!

Check out this review and make sure to read through to the Conclusion and Buying Advice:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0312/sierra_tower_speaker.htm

 

B&W (I use the 703 ) , Proac , PMC, Harbeth , Sonus Faber...I can't stand the Wilsons . Overrated/overpriced & look like council bins.

 

Really well engineered stuff (speaking as a loudspeaker engineer). One of my favorite speakers ever is a Focal "Aria 5" kit from way back when. More recently I heard Focal Grand Utopias at Newport…sounded great but I was hardly overwhelmed. The Magico room slaughtered them, as did the Von Schweikert massive setup.

What do you mean by "12x16 with an open wall on one side"???

I was going to suggest you try Klipschorns for the heck of it, but not sure that you have corners...

 

As far as the center image being shifted, this could very well be an issue with speaker positioning. I would be sure to listen to some Vandersteens if possible based on your priorities.

 

If you have a local Joseph Audio dealer, then be cure to check out the upcoming Profile.

Perhaps Thiel 2.7's also.

 

I know shopping with that budget would sure be fun. I would certainly want to listen to the Spendor D7's as well as some mentioned earlier.

 

My listening space is one side of a finished basement. There is a solid wall on the right side, while the left side is open and goes into the rest of the basement. See pics

 

I've heard Totem Acoustics paired with McIntosh gear several times and they are a wonderful match. The Totem Forest Signature (new) and Totem Wind (used) should fall well below your $10K threshold.

 

Recently heard a Mcintosh MC275/Spendor D7 combination. Fantastic pairing, and the speakers sounded much "bigger" than their relatively small size. Another one to possibly add to the list.

 

IMHO, the new KEF Reference line should be on your short list.

 

My dealer has their Mac system running some Theil CS3.7's . Best system I have heard. Live performance realism to a fault as many people have come to love their phony kodachromed / colorized systems and can't handle real.

 

I heard 2 models in the Focal Aria series (936 and 948) at the 2013 RMAF and was really, really impressed. My favorite dynamic driver speaker at that show was the Sonus Faber Olympica III, but to my ears, the Arias were close to that level for considerably less money. The test disc I took with me included a number of classic rock tracks (The Zombies, Ten Years After, Santana) as I favor speakers that will still allow me to enjoy my cherished less than optimally recorded albums-I find that many high end speakers (Wilson, B & W Diamond) sound fantastic playing things like Blue Note jazz titles and well recorded classical music (RCA Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence, Telarc) but are so ruthlessly revealing that they get fatiguing with the non audiophile stuff. The Focals were engaging no matter what type of music I played-Stereophile had a rave review of the 936 in last month's issue.

I heard the latest version of the DeVore Gibbons at this year's RMAF and and was very impressed. Sounded good with rock and beautiful to look at, too. You mentioned you had Cantons-I heard a model that I believe was priced at 10k at RMAF that sounded fantastic, can't recall the model number, unfortunately. Beautiful cherry wood finish, too. Another one I've heard that is definitely worth checking out is the Wharfedale Jade 7.

I own Vandersteen 2ce Signature II's and love them-if you can live with a pretty small sweet spot for serious listening, they are hard to beat and still a great value at $2400 with stands. There are a lot of people that don't like the cosmetics, though (thankfully my wife isn't among them) but my local dealer told me sales of the Vandersteen 2 and 3 have slumped lately and he attributes it to this. Richard Vandersteen has addressed it by developing models with better cosmetics that offer improved performance (Treo, Quatro Wood).

 

Ah, the pics sure help! That's what I thought you meant. Tough placement for speakers. I'd probably toe in your speakers to reduce splash off the right-side wall. In a situation like that, I once put the TV in the corner with the speakers on each side. That way they were symmetrically loaded. It worked quite well.

Hey, you could still use a Klipschorn as a center channel!

Actually, the proper controlled directivity horn speakers could reduce your right-side wall reflections, but I couldn't comment about particular models.