Congrats on a nice little integrated. As you are probably aware this will limit your speaker choices somewhat given the amps' power output into 8 and 4 Ohms. I agree you should take your amp with you to the dealer (or even better, have the dealer loan them to you for a few days), especially if you're looking at speakers like Totem and B&W that may not completely open up with only 65W on tap. I'd highly recommend listening to Silverline Minuet Supreme Plus as the designer engineered it to work well with lower powered and tubed amps. They're very nicely detailed without being bright and image like deamons. If you up your budget a little bit there's a pair of Preludes for sale here that will get you into the floor standing realm with similar sonic characteristics and more lower end extension and impact. Used Reference 3a DeCapos would also be a great speaker to try given your amp and preferences. Best of luck.
$800 to spend on speakers, $1500 on whole system
I am new to community and am seeking advice on my first good sound system. I am looking to spend $500-800 on a used set of two speakers for my living room, which is not very large. I cannot decide between bookshelf speakers or a floor speaker. I will be listening mostly to digital music, and I could use recommendations on a DAC and receiver. I would like the receiver to be bluetooth if high quality receivers come with this feature, but that's not a deal breaker for me.
My Ideal system would have two speakers at $500-800 and with receiver, DAC, cables, and anything else I would need totaling around $1200, but $1500 maximum. I figured I would start with speakers and go from there.
I like to listen to most music, except rap. Heavy metal, funk, jazz. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks
My Ideal system would have two speakers at $500-800 and with receiver, DAC, cables, and anything else I would need totaling around $1200, but $1500 maximum. I figured I would start with speakers and go from there.
I like to listen to most music, except rap. Heavy metal, funk, jazz. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks
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- 63 posts total
There are a couple of excellent stand-mount speakers that are a stretch on your budget ($798/pair for one model, $998 for the other), which sound like (I've heard 'em) small floorstanders. During demonstrations listeners start looking around for a subwoofer. They're the GoldenEar Aon 2 and Aon 3. They use a folded ribbon tweeter for very smooth and extended treble, excellent quality mid/woofers (with cast baskets and phase plugs for more even distribution throughout the room), passive radiators that extend the bass and dynamics, and non-parallel sides to reduce cabinet resonances. They are very easy to listen to on a wide variety of music, would mate well with your PeachTree, and fill your listening space without straining. Best of all, they're well-distributed. If you can get to a Best Buy/Magnolia, you can probably audition them live. I'm not sure who all their authorized dealers are, but here's their Dealer Locator. Comprehensive Stereophile review of the Aon 2 here. Let's not forget, however, that the Andrew Jones-designed Elac Debut F5 Floorstanders are available within your original budget. OTOH, either Aon will give you 4-5 dB more loudness for the same power input according to both mfrs' stated specs. |
I agree with @soix that you should get a local audio dealer to let you audition the speakers in your home rather than take your amp to their spaces. The thought being that YOUR SPACE will determine the sound you get out of your speaker/amp combo much more accurately than their space. You mentioned you're in a smaller room. I think that will help quite a bit with the concerns mentioned in this thread about under-powering your speakers. A smaller room is easier to load and will provide some natural gain (https://trueaudio.com/st_spcs1.htm) as well as placing you closer to the speakers when listening. Naturally you'll want to up your amp game at some point, as the additional power will afford you more headroom, manifesting as more dynamic sound and added transparency, but you have plenty of time. The audiophile pursuit is an ongoing journey, and you've got decades of tweaking ahead of you. |
- 63 posts total