+1 for the MA platinums (I have the 300ii model). Try the IsoAcoustic Gaia footers on them for even better sound and presence. Robert Deutsch has great reviews of both in Stereophile. Mine are driven by a Luxman m900u.
Help me with a pairing.....
HI all,
Somewhat new here. I’ve decided that it’s time to up my two channel game. I’ll be moving from Monitor Audio Silver 6’s powered by my Marantz AVR that has served me well for a long time. Initially I balked at the notion of HT bypass on an integrated but now i’m all in. I listened to a few different products but based on what I had read coming into it I sort of knew what would win, and that’s the Luxman 509x. It was exactly as advertised....very precise and powerful with no slowness to speak of and little coloration. We even compared it to 1.2k Mcintosh monoblocks and I felt the Luxman gave up very little if anything, but that’s a story for another thread. I was listening on Focal Sopra 2’s and have to say they did not suck! So while that’s a possibility they are really darned big. I would love to hear other suggestions on where I might look to find a somewhat neutral speaker that supports primarily indie rock (think Wilco, The War on Drugs, even low fi favorites like Guided By Voices) as well as jam bands (Phish, GD) and classic rock. Also if it’s any help we listened to Magico’s the same day and I didn’t care for them nearly as much. A bit warm for my liking.
Ideally footprint is a bit smaller, and has a center channel that isn’t 24w x 12" high since that would be challenging on most racks. Price maybe 10K per pair MSRP but i’m flexible for the right product. Would considered used. Brands on my radar include: Revel, Monitor Audio (clear winner last time I did this, but wasn’t shopping quite as upmarket), Focal (maybe one notch down from Sopra?) Kef and maybe Paradigm. I’d really like to get feedback on people’s experience with these combo’s, and knowing what I’m favoring at least start in the right spot. I’m in a big metro area so should be able to find a dealer with most anything.
Thanks very much in advance.
EW
Somewhat new here. I’ve decided that it’s time to up my two channel game. I’ll be moving from Monitor Audio Silver 6’s powered by my Marantz AVR that has served me well for a long time. Initially I balked at the notion of HT bypass on an integrated but now i’m all in. I listened to a few different products but based on what I had read coming into it I sort of knew what would win, and that’s the Luxman 509x. It was exactly as advertised....very precise and powerful with no slowness to speak of and little coloration. We even compared it to 1.2k Mcintosh monoblocks and I felt the Luxman gave up very little if anything, but that’s a story for another thread. I was listening on Focal Sopra 2’s and have to say they did not suck! So while that’s a possibility they are really darned big. I would love to hear other suggestions on where I might look to find a somewhat neutral speaker that supports primarily indie rock (think Wilco, The War on Drugs, even low fi favorites like Guided By Voices) as well as jam bands (Phish, GD) and classic rock. Also if it’s any help we listened to Magico’s the same day and I didn’t care for them nearly as much. A bit warm for my liking.
Ideally footprint is a bit smaller, and has a center channel that isn’t 24w x 12" high since that would be challenging on most racks. Price maybe 10K per pair MSRP but i’m flexible for the right product. Would considered used. Brands on my radar include: Revel, Monitor Audio (clear winner last time I did this, but wasn’t shopping quite as upmarket), Focal (maybe one notch down from Sopra?) Kef and maybe Paradigm. I’d really like to get feedback on people’s experience with these combo’s, and knowing what I’m favoring at least start in the right spot. I’m in a big metro area so should be able to find a dealer with most anything.
Thanks very much in advance.
EW