Hello all.
I am asking for some recommendations on speakers to go with a McIntosh MA-6900 integrated amp. I have down-sized my system from Plinius SA102 and Dynaudio Contour S5.4. The digital source will remain: a Bel canto DAC3 fed with either a squeezebox, eventual mac mini, and a cd transport.
My room is atypical. It's an "L" shape but i've had excellent results with Thiel CS2.2, Dyn 1.8MKII, Dyn S3.4, and not so good results with the S5.4s. It was a combination of their size and my lack of willingness to fully commit to appropriate room treatments (It's not a dedicated room at this time).
Room Size:
Imagine 2 rectangles. Make one 12 feet wide by 30, and then another about 12 feet wide by 26 feet. Now turn the 2nd rectangle 90 deg and line up its long edge with the 1st rectangles short edge (the "L")
Ceilings 9 feet;
My main listening space is about 15L x 12W x 9H (i have lots of empty space behind the couch). The listening position is about 10 feet from the front of the speakers and the speakers are about 7 feet center to center and 3 to 4 feet from the back wall. I think this is a small to medium sized volume but i'm not sure.
I like to listen to: rock, pop, jazz, blues, blues, and classical. Mostly rock and jazz though. I think the S3.4s were a good size for the room; the contour 1.8's maybe a touch on the smaller size.
I am thinking about:
Dynaudio Focus 220, Thiel CS1.6, Totem Forest, B&W 805, Focus Audio FS7... and i'm looking for suggestions from you all as well. The Mac integrated is probably not the last word in power drive, but i'm reasonably sure it could easily handle the speakers i've mentioned.
I do have a powered sub that seems to match well to the room; Its a paradigm PDR 10 that plays clean and low. I plan on using this for recordings that suck in the lower octaves, or that would benefit from the ambiance i seem to get with a sub. Weird I know, but it's there.
Important sonic aspects:
1)clean clear open "natural" midrange
2)ability to rock out now and again (think Mark Knopfler played around ~90 dB rms)
3)good with various genres
4)ultra clean top end.
5) good usable bass response.
6)full balanced sound/not thin or shelved up
7)excellent imagaing potential
I guess there is more but thats about it for now.
Thanks for your help |
