WAF Speaker suggestions

Six months ago I demo’d couple dozen speakers over several months and my three favorites were Spendor (which I bought) and Vandersteen and Dynaudio (the runner ups). So if you like Vandy then I suggest also demoing Dyn (already on your list) and Spendor.

I liked the Spendors just a bit more than the Vandys for the very reason you desire - they were just a little more exciting sounding yet still rich and lush and delicious in the mids like the Vandys. I was comparing D7 to model 3,fwiw. Blues and jazz my go-to genres. 

The A2s new are in your price range, sound fantastic, and look pretty sexy too! I spent a long time listening to the A2s and was really impressed. A4 or A7 used would be even better!

Heard Focal in that price range too, nice, but quite different sounding. But Focal was probably in my top 25% as I think back. I’ll say that you can definitely get a ‘bigger’ sounding Focal for $2.5k than you can Spendor for that price. Might be a factor for bigger room.

Good luck!

OP,
I’ve posted bits and pieces of my speaker search across various threads but basically I just went to 4-5 dealers within 100 miles few times each over 4-5 months and listened to everything I could in the $3-7k range. For speakers I could tell weren’t for me, I’d eliminate them after 20 mins of listening. For those more interesting I’d listen for an hour or more, ideally over a couple amps. Now obviously not true A/B testing always cause often different dealers/rooms/amps etc but was best I could do.

I can’t give you a final list 1-20 (or whatever #was) cause didn’t approach that way. Rather, I just kept track of current front runner and nearest runner ups and kept testing them trying to knock them off their perches. By end I’d probably listened to D7 four-five times and Dyn, Vandy at least two-three.

The D7 rose to top and stayed there for me. I loved the LPZ tweeter (in house design by Spendor like all drivers in D series) and for me was what gave them the more lively/energetic/less laid back sound vs Vandy.

When i had convinced myself I liked D7 better than anything I could get for under $7k (my budget) and important to me to have heard in person, I decided to do something dangerous and audition a few in the $7-10k range. Coming from B&W speakers purchased in 2000, it was only when I convinced myself that I liked the D7’s better than the $9k Bowers 804d3 that I was ready to pull trigger on D7.

I cant remember full list of what I auditioned but included various (typically several) models from Spendor, Focal, Dynaudio, Vandy, Paradigm, Bowers Wilkins, Martin Logan, Magnepan, Rega, Goldenear, Linn, Macintosh, Kef. Probably forgetting some ... Three house sounds best to my ears were Spendor and then either Vandy or Dynaudio (didn’t differentiate between them bc they were always a bit behind Spendor for me).

Rbstehno,
Op never said he was looking for exotic looking speakers, only for good sounding ones that look better than his speakers that wife considers ugly.

Op also said in initial post that Focal or Dynaudio (both fairly normal speaker looking) were two that would meet his criteria, and later suggested in response to me that he liked Spendor on my short list. Again, not exotic looking but for whatever reason apparently must meet OP’s definition of waf acceptable

Dynaudio excite x38 was one I listened to and really liked; preferred it in direct a/b compare to bowers & Wilkins 702s2 over long listening session of blues/jazz. Wish I could remember the amp they were playing on. Maybe Prima Luna tubes??

Nice smooth sound, really musical. Good soundstage and imaging. Had place on podium for me for long time ...

With caveat that I’ve never heard your model of Vandersteen (only model 3 or 3a), I’m suspect that you may find the Focals to be “less laid back” as you mention in original post than the Vandersteens.

If so then you’ll have to decide if they retain enough of the musicality and overall refinement of the Vandys. 

The best advice I got at beginning of my search was to listen to as many options as you can, and you’ll know when you hear the one that’s right for you, you’ll know. 

Good luck!

Ya, Aria 928 and 936 played on Rotel. But at different dealer than Dynaudio so no direct comparison.

I had opportunity to directly compare the Focals to some Paradigm Prestige and Goldenear Triton 2+ and preferred the Focals over both. Much more than the Goldenear and a decent bit more than the Paradigm.

i don’t remember if these all in same cost range but do remember thinking at time that if my budget would’ve been under $3k that Focal might’ve been nice option.

But to extent I could extrapolate sound across the different setups for my ears anyway I judged that I liked Dynaudio sound better but all personal preference, ymmv

Oops, meant to say above that "I suspect that you may find," not "I'm suspect" - haha, that totally came out wrong.

Yeah the Focals will likely sound less laid back than your Vandys based on my experience hearing the two brands.

Post back after you hear them.

I felt the Focals were much brighter than the Vandy 2ce sigs but did not have the bass slam.

Yep, you really do love your wife more than the Vandys!  Anyway, congrats and I'd say consider yourself fortunate that your wife is as interested in listening as you and that you can do it together.  Not always the case, to say the least.