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A spousal revelation ... and a tall order. Help

I'm one of the lucky ones ... my wife loves music, live and recorded, and thus tolerates, even encourages, my constant gear and speaker changes. I asked her to marry me on the day she said--and I quote-- "I don't care what it looks like, as long as it sounds good." Ever since, I have, truly, been trying to find speakers that I think she will love.

It finally dawned on me the other evening what she most values in an audio system, and it's not what I thought.

It turns out she loves the ability to locate musicians and instruments in the recreated (created?) recording space, and she gets giddy when those images are fleshed out and palpable.

So, my question is obvious: in the context of our room and other equipment (see below), what speakers in the < $3,000 range might I try that provide the above qualities?

Our amplifiers are now all tubed, ranging from HK Citation II, to Quad II's, to SE (813's, 300b's, 2a3's). Front end is mostly analog--various TT and arm/cart combos (eg., Thorens, Garrard, Technics SP, JMW-10 arm/Benz L2 cart, etc.) Listening area is 16'x 28', with two good corners at one of the narrow ends.

Oh yeah -- she also likes good, clean, deep bass.

I've got no prejudices or pre-conceived notions about what to get, so I'm open to any and all thoughts or suggestions. My only limitation, aside from the $3,000 budget, is her dislike of shopping and in particular shopping at high-end audio salons, so getting her out to listen is tough.

Thanks so much for reading this, and for any suggestions you care to offer.

Happy Holidays!
gtrmkr

Showing 2 responses by t_bone

t_bone
1,182 posts
 
I have recently purchased a pair of Altec Model 19s (made in 1978). I am surprised by the sophistication of the crossover. The speakers sound great too. They are a bit thin in the high frequencies, but I am trying to figure out a way to correct for that. One possible way is to add supertweeters. Another might be to change the HF driver (one suggestion has been to switch the existing HF drivers for BMS 4552s + an L-pad (the BMS drivers are a bit more efficient).

Another possibility would be to add a Behringer DEQ2496 to the mix. If you were able to do both the HF driver change AND the Behringer, you'd spend less than $3k (plus a bit of time spent (the BMS drivers+L-pad should be quite easy, the Behringer probably has a learning curve)). I don't know the US market price for Altec 19s but I expect them to be in the $1k-$2k range.
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
The Altec M19s are "big" in size and in sound. I bought mine for about $1200 and I have never seen or heard a pair of speakers, new or used, that I would rather have for the money (given my choice of amps on this system, which is low-power tubes). Are they perfect? No, but they are a lot of speaker for the money on a turnkey basis, and probably can be modded/improved (I bet a good DIYer could have a ball with these - improving some of the parts in the XOs, changing to the BMS HF drivers, adding supertweeters, bracing the cabinet) for not much money. I like them because they are highly efficient, giving me a lot of flexibility on amps. Plus, they have a fan club so are likely going to be easy to sell if I ever do.

The Audioheritage website is a large and friendly community of Altec users. If you say where you are and that you would like to listen to a pair somewhere close, I bet you could find someone who would offer a listening session.

I bet they work in bigger rooms like yours better than they work in small rooms (like where mine are). So far I have found the XOs to be surprisingly supple. I will probably end up getting a Behringer to see how I can tame the speaker/room interaction.
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