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Excellent Speakers for Classical Music - $2,000 USD Budget

Hello All...I am primarily a classical music listener, leaning more towards solo piano, symphony/orchestral, and chamber music. I have a Rotel A14 integrated amp in which I plan to add mono amplifiers to at some point in the future. I let a pair of B&W 804 Nautilus Speakers slip through my fingers recently. There is a B&W 804 Matrix set for sale near me, but don’t know if the Nautilus are better than the Matrix. So, I let a good pair slip through my fingers. But, it got me to thinking...Are there any other brands that I should consider besides B&W? I had in mind to audition Magenpan and Martin Logan electrostatics. Seeing that I only want to spend around $2,000, does anyone have any ideas?

In my office, I use Adam A7x nearfield monitors with ribbon tweeters, and for headphones, I love my Sennheiser 800S’. I like a nice detailed, clear, and forward sound. Would another ribbon tweeter floor standing set do it for me? Electrostats the way to go?

Looking forward to your suggestions.
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Showing 3 responses by hilde45

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,778 posts
 
I’ve been very happy with my Salk stand mounts for classical. In your budget, you might consider these towers:
https://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=SongTower
Email or call Jim about classical music and see what he recommends. With the above model, I like the tweeter in the middle arrangement (MTM). They’re also quite gorgeous to look at. And you can return them if they don’t work out if the chosen veneer is standard and not specialized.

For a bit more, a similar design with a RAAL ribbon tweeter might be especially suited to classical: https://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=SongTower%20RT

I auditioned Focal, Klipsch, Fritz, Martin Logan, Dynaudio and Salk was my favorite.
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,778 posts
 
Holy sh*t --those Spendors. 1/3 the MSRP and dynamite product. I'd buy these in a heartbeat. @jjss49 has got great ears and lots of experience. Listen to him.
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,778 posts
 
Not sure what the worst that can happen is. $2200 speakers, offer 1800 and ask for shipping, they reply with $2000 with shipping and you try them for 6 months. Sell for roughly same price and maybe take a hit of $400 or so? Just back of the envelope but if you keep them, big big win.

And here's another pair for $1800: https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649731954-spendor-sp91/
Offer $1500 for these maybe!

Here's a recent price history for these, used -- https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=Spendor+SP9/1
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