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Looking for "realistic" speakers

I just had my pair of Cary Audio Silver Oak speakers get fried along with the rest of my Cary gear in some kind of power surge (sniff sniff). And absolutely loved the Silver Oaks because they just made everything sound authentic.

The instruments had the right timbre, scale, the balance was just right, and aside for perhaps a touch of richness had no character of their own. This made them sound great for any type of music.

I can't afford the $8K I spent in the day to replace so am looking for something closer to $2K-$3K max (used Ok). I'm looking less for something with super trick staging, imaging and some of the other high end niceties (though I wouldn't kick them out of bed).

More for a musical speaker that just makes the music musical and the presentation realistic sounding. That makes you forget you're listening to speakers/electronics and hearing the music the way it should sound.

Easy to say, I know.

My preamps and amps are solid state Cary stuff that will be replaced by insurance though sadly the Silver Oaks are no longer made.

Any ideas?
larrybou

Showing 2 responses by clio09

clio09
3,343 posts
 
Not sure where you are in Maryland but if you can get to Déjà Vu Audio in McLean, VA go over and have a listen. They carry a nice line of speakers including Audio Note, Spendor, ProAc and Quad. I think the classic British monitor sound might appeal to your tastes. Don't be fooled either, many of these monitors are fairly large in size and tend to image better than floorstanders.

Personally I would give a good listen to the Spendor Classic Series and specifically the 1/2. This is still one of my favorite speakers. Derek Hughes has recently designed the Stirling SB-88 which has a lot of similarities to the 1/2 and is also worth checking out.
clio09
3,343 posts
 
Vu is very knowledgeable and you will get to hear some really good speakers. He was a huge Cary dealer at one time, might still be, and he knew Dennis well. I bought my first Set of Cary gear and Spendor speakers from him.

FWIW I have heard the Salk speakers many times and even visited with Jim Salk at his home demo room in Michigan. They are very nice speakers. However, I think they will present a different sound than what you were used to.
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