Quality Bookshelf Speakers


I am looking to upgrade an older pair of Thiel SCS bookshelves running on a 10 year old NAD 80 watt per channel amp and preamp. Have a BW ASW2000 sub. Demoed a pair of BW 602 S3 bookshelves and they were amazing compared to older Thiels. My price range is up to about $1500 for new speakers but want to keep the look fairly small and likely bookshelves - have stands. Provide me with a list of 5 fairly accessible bookshelves that I should also listen to for my price range and amp - given that I might also upgrade the amp in the next year or two. Getting into listening to well recorded music and love what the two channel plus sub does for movies. Thanks for any advice.
ladavid
I would concur with Unsound...take your Thiels to a local hi-end shop...and run them with some decent cables and a good amp(such as Musical Fidelity)...although they are older...Thiel is a very hi end product...they have always been a proponet of "phase correct"(simple crossover) design...which only a handful of companies really do..Vandersteen,Meadowlark,etc...and since they are a difficult load to drive(4 ohm/low sensitivity)...quality amplification is a must for dynamics,etc...
David... The B&W 602 s3 one word, Awesome. Providing you mate them with the right electronics and cables. The advantage today is that Audiogon has got great products out there because the world needs home theatre and is literally giving away some really good equipment. What you need is a good amp i.e. Krell (old stuff) class A no fan. B&K 200 watts per, Bryston 200 watts, ARC 100 watt, etc. Pre-amp (tubes)CJ,ARC, (very reliable) Good CD Player, and good cables.
The speakers are very efficient and the tube -solid state combination takes the brightness out of the tweeters everybody complains about. These speakers will definitely let you here your equipment. You will like your music!
phasecorrect - my thiels have to be about 12 years old - replaced an older pair of magneplaners in the late 80's.
unsound good question - I was so impressed with how much better the B&W 602's were with my amp I concluded that the speakers were the first thing to upgrade. Stuff I had never heard before on old cd's - although admittedly the 602's had hi end speaker cable (biwired on something like $300 cables) vs my thiels which have $2 a foot cable. Maybe I should take my theils to the stereo store and compare vs. something like the paradigms and run them both off a more advanced amp like musical fidelity. Advice, thoughts? My amp and preamp are nad 214 and 1000 respectively.
Sorry, if I'm not answering your thread correctly, but, I can't help but think that upgrading your amp instead of your speakers might be more rewarding.
great responses everyone - can see I have my homework cut out for me. Living in a fairly small city are there online retail sources where I might find some of these speakers if they are not available here. Thanks for the input
Quad 11L-Product of the Year..WhatHiFi..brit press
Proac-reference 8
Spendor-2/3
Revel m20
Nsmaudio.com model 10
David... I auditioned several bookshelf monitors at a local shop a few months back, and the best sounding; i.e. big full sound, dynamic and detailed, were a pair of Meadowlark Vireos. Bass is front ported and so can be placed right up against a back wall on a shelf... $1K new
Revel M20s. I love mine. Discounted they will fall into your price range. Why anyone would want to put speakers on a bookshelf, beats me. The best way to kill a speaker. The problem is, with "bookshelf" speakers, to sound their best, they must rest on killer stands. That brings the price way out of your range. That is, of course, if you go for Sistrum Mini Monitor speaker support stands. They will take your speakers to places that no other stand will...Also, you will probably want to rethink your amp, after owning these babies. This is probably the beginning of some serious $$ for you...doesn't it always start this way. After all this, it will be your CDP. good luck
i have to agree with celtic66, anything made by ATC is worlds beyond *anything* made by thiel or by b&w.
For 1500 or less, there are a lot of great choices out there. First I would recommend the B&W CDM 1 NT. I owned this a while back and it can do really great things. Also, the Paradigm Studio 20 v.2 is an excellent speaker for its price. 650 for laminate or 900 for the wood veneer. Also, the Revel M20 sells for 2000, but you can talk dealers down some. Most likely not to 1500, but if you can stretch the budget just a hair, I promise you will not be dissappointed.
ATC SCM 7 at $1100/pr. are great. More open than the Thiels and I feel more musical.