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Best bookshelf speakers

I’m building my first high fi system after being more of a portable audio person. I want to start with the speakers. Space is limited so bookshelf speakers are a must.

Preferences:
Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth.
Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows
Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz
But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music
Smaller is better but SQ is most important
A speaker that sounds good with different amps but also scalable with high quality sources
Wide sweet spot - I wont have money for a great amp at first but want them to be scalable for later

These speakers have caught my eyes - any thoughts on them?

Ascend Sierra 2s - Ribbon = dispersion limitations?
BMR Philharmonitor - See above. Also massive.
Buchardt S400/S300 - Wary of the sudden hype train and limited info
Silverline Minuet Grande - Limited info
Reference 3A De Capo - This caught my eye as a potential endgame speaker if I could blow up my budget a little. But concerns about BE tweeter as well as some potential snake oil stuff (cryogenic treatment (!?)), exaggerated sensitivity claims and wonky measurements put me off.

What else should I be looking at?

Edit: I could have sworn I had <$2,000 in the title... Anyway, my budget is 2k.

stuff_jones

Showing 2 responses by taww

taww's avatar
taww
124 posts
 
Caveat that I can't say what is "best" and I haven't heard many of the suggestions given here, but I can heartily recommend the Silverline Minuet Grand. It is fantastic, particularly for acoustic music (I'm a primarily classical listener, some jazz and a smattering of pop.)
https://taww.co/post/170777975517/review-silverline-minuet-grand-loudspeakers

I think it fits your "Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth" description quite well. They are exceedingly natural and musical. I wouldn't worry about the specified crossover point, it's likely just a nominal electrical rating. Alan Yun tunes his crossover carefully for the end result and he is a real master of the art. I have done some light measurements of the SR 17 Supreme in my room and both the individual driver and combined responses are stunningly accurate. 

Another option to consider is anything by Fritz Speakers, a lot of models around the $2k price point. I've only listened to them briefly but ears I trust say they are superb for the money. 
taww's avatar
taww
124 posts
 
BTW I think it's good to go to stores and listen to a lot of offerings from a lot of mainstream manufacturers but I do not subscribe to the notion that big corporations = big R&D budgets = better speakers - quite the opposite in my experience. The vast majority of my favorite speakers of all time have been made by smaller outfits. While the big boys do have the manufacturing capability to design and produce their own drivers, most of them are doing the vast majority of it in China, IMO with the aim of making things that look and sound cool on paper (magnesium alloy! diamond coatings! unobtanium coils!) while keeping costs low. The truth is some of the best sounding drivers in the world are still made out of very traditional materials using decades-old technology. I mean, look at what Wilson is using in their latest models - that's right, treated paper. (I'm not even a Wilson fan but I think their newer stuff is sounding better for it.) The margins on mass market products are also much fatter in order to share enough of the pie with all the people involved - distributors, dealers, marketing and advertising agencies, etc. etc...

Just my $.02 but I'll take a finely crafted 2-way using off-the-shelf Dynaudio or Scanspeak drivers and a very simple but carefully-tuned crossover over some of the needlessly complicated mass-market designs any day. 
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