2. speakers
  3. 133430-107338

Looking for speaker recommendations that I can purchase on Amazon.com

Budget: under US$5000 and would prefer a price point of less than $3000/pair. The most expensive speakers I have owned so far are Polk RTi A7's, so this will be a big jump for me.

Purpose: music

Room: I tend to move every few years, so I don't want speakers that will work best only with very specific room conditions. Currently, I will be using these in a medium size room of about 22 feet x 18 feet. The room has carpet and window treatments.

Music sources: CD's, lossless music files stored on computer and MP3's when that's all I have available. I don't ahve any SACD's yet, but I plan on purchasing more high quality music once I have this system set up.

Music styles: acoustic, Indian classical (sitar, srangi, flute), alternative rock (Portugal. The Man, Sleeping with Sirens, etc.), older rock (e.g., Rush).

The speakers should sound good playing the Tanpura (aka Tambura). It is a classical Indian accompaniment instrument in the "drone" category. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanpura) Example of sound here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7tlqXix_eo
With bad equipment that sound is fatiguing to me. Live it is beautiful and relaxing. Hopefully I can find speakers that will do it justice.

Personal Preferences: I am looking for non-fatiguing, warm, musical qualities. In another discussion topic here on this forum, @mtrot and I agreed about "smooth, sweet, soft, silky treble" and "shimmery, airy cymbals" as goals.

Amplifier: Yamaha P5000S

DAC: to be determined, but probably something like the Teac NT-503

Finally, the speakers of choice must be sold on Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com (or possibly some other similar retail website). I have personal reasons for this limitation. It isn't always true that I will need to buy all my speakers or audio gear from one of these sites, but for the moment, it is a requirement. Please don't recommend anything that isn't available on one of these sites. Thanks.

lowoverdrive

Showing 2 responses by caroleg

caroleg
6 posts
 
Have you looked at Emotiva speakers? Their Airmotiv T2 tower speakers are fantastic and fit your budget with room to buy much more. If you don’t know the company, don’t let the price fool you into thinking they are not high end quality. They sound amazing, especially with their XPA amps. Emotiva sells only online (no brick and mortar store in the middle which is part of their ability to keep prices low.) They do sell some through Amazon though I only see their T1 on there now. (I believe they have sold through Best Buy in the past but haven’t looked now.) I suspect they could still arrange for you to buy through Amazon whether you see what you want there or not. Just call them. Look at their DC1 DAC too. I LOVE mine. 
https://emotiva.com/product/airmotiv-t2/
caroleg
6 posts
 
@lowoverdrive - Sorry it's taken me a few days to get back to this. You asked, "Do you have any links to audiophile reviews on these speakers that you think are authoritative?"

I haven't found a review of Emotiva's T2s online, but there is a good review of their T1s on Absolute Sound. The T1 came out first and is what I'd liken to a little brother to the T2, smaller. 
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/emotiva-airmotiv-t1-loudspeaker/

The T2s were not available to purchase until middle of this past summer, but they were featured at last year's CES (2017) as part of a larger home theater setup. There is a positive review of that here: 
http://www.avsforum.com/best-of-ces-emotiva-airmotiv-t2-tower-e2-surround-c2-center-7-2-system/

I heard the T2s this past September at their Emofest event in a two-channel demo room, and they were amazing. (Two-channel music listening is my thing, so I spent more time in that room than anywhere else.) As different groups of people would come in for a demo session, someone would invariably say, "where's the sub?" and be astonished to find that there was not one, however I will assert that the big bass end is just one of many great things about these speakers - crystal clear with "clean edges" to the sound and beautiful imaging, lots of depth and separation. I have their older XRT 6.2 towers which I love, but have to admit, I am longing for the T2s with their monoblock amps after that listen!

I really would encourage you to reach out to the Emotiva folks and chat, try to audition them in your home. I feel pretty sure you'll be very surprised (if not amazed) at the big bang for the buck! And I feel like the Emotiva staff would work to accommodate your need to purchase through Amazon too. It is a fairly small company, very personal and family-like, with wonderful customer service.
More to discover