When you look for a long term speaker replacement, its always necessary to consider a few key elements :
a) Does the tweeter irritate? Don't mistake artificially "enhanced" detail as the real thing. We often make the mistake of thinking that a speaker is more detailed, but in reality, the upper freqs are boosted in relation to the rest of the spectrum. In the long run, this will lead to listener fatigue.
b) Does the lower-mid bass mask detail? This is one of the most common faults of most speakers, because it is also due to box resonances.
c) Does the speaker communicate the music? This is probably the hardest to achieve. It really depends on your listening tastes. I would suggest that your other half also gets involved, since she has the trained ear.
With your room size, you could easily accomodate a floor stander. Speakers which I think you could consider are :
a) Cabasse Baltic/Thor - yeah I know I'm using them, and I like them. They do go loud and don't break up. They don't have box colorations and the tweeter is very clean and musical. With the sub, you can tune it to your room/music. With the concentric drivers, they are time-alined and consequently throw huge soundstages without getting confused on loud passages.
b) Dali Euphonia MS4/5 - this is a great speaker with crystaline highs. The speakers just disappear and they throw fantastic soundstages.
c) Vandersteen Quattro - a sleeper. If you want to know what's really on the recording, this is one of those speakers. Very reveiling. They thrive on power. Heard them with a 360w amp, followed by a 600w mono and the monos just took the cake.
d) Dynaudio C2/4 - very neutral mids. Require high power to get the best from them.
Of the above, (a) and (b) are easy loads and highly efficient, while (c) and (d) require more amp mussle.
The JM Lab speakers are also good, but I would recommend you go for the floorstander instead of the monitor. I'm not a fan of Sonus as I find them too colored.
a) Does the tweeter irritate? Don't mistake artificially "enhanced" detail as the real thing. We often make the mistake of thinking that a speaker is more detailed, but in reality, the upper freqs are boosted in relation to the rest of the spectrum. In the long run, this will lead to listener fatigue.
b) Does the lower-mid bass mask detail? This is one of the most common faults of most speakers, because it is also due to box resonances.
c) Does the speaker communicate the music? This is probably the hardest to achieve. It really depends on your listening tastes. I would suggest that your other half also gets involved, since she has the trained ear.
With your room size, you could easily accomodate a floor stander. Speakers which I think you could consider are :
a) Cabasse Baltic/Thor - yeah I know I'm using them, and I like them. They do go loud and don't break up. They don't have box colorations and the tweeter is very clean and musical. With the sub, you can tune it to your room/music. With the concentric drivers, they are time-alined and consequently throw huge soundstages without getting confused on loud passages.
b) Dali Euphonia MS4/5 - this is a great speaker with crystaline highs. The speakers just disappear and they throw fantastic soundstages.
c) Vandersteen Quattro - a sleeper. If you want to know what's really on the recording, this is one of those speakers. Very reveiling. They thrive on power. Heard them with a 360w amp, followed by a 600w mono and the monos just took the cake.
d) Dynaudio C2/4 - very neutral mids. Require high power to get the best from them.
Of the above, (a) and (b) are easy loads and highly efficient, while (c) and (d) require more amp mussle.
The JM Lab speakers are also good, but I would recommend you go for the floorstander instead of the monitor. I'm not a fan of Sonus as I find them too colored.