2. speakers
  3. 138135-118236

Road trip to demo $10,000 speakers

I'm going to take a several hour road trip to the Washington DC/Baltimore area to demo some speakers in the $10,000 range for a once in a lifetime purchase. I plan on listening to some Magico A3's, Aerial Acoustic 7T's, and Spendor D-9's. One of the dealers also has Paradigm Persona 3F's on the floor, so I'll take a listen to them too. While I'm up there are there any other speakers in that price range you'd recommend I try to locate and take a listen to. I'm open to and welcome your suggestions and will take the time to research each one as well.

I'm not in the market for used equipment. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Mike



skyscraper
gosta's avatar
gosta
839 posts
 
I'm in here late but ATC SCM100 and/or Tannoy Kensington GR and be done with it. They will sound better than anything on good recordings and very revealing of bad recordings. But there are a lot of good stuff to listen to... Look for the brands that music is produced on. Avoid speakers that try to flatten the sound and make it always enjoyable or are specifically voiced for one type of music They're never good enough. Just my opinion. Have a nice time!
skyscraper OP
824 posts
 
Firstnots, woud have liked to have heard some Joseph Audio speakers, but the closest dealer was in Pennsylvania, too far away.. I'm in SW Virgina. I'd be curious how you thought the more expensive Joseph speaker you listened to compared to the Magico A3's if you track a pair down to demo. Those Spendors D-9's are hard to track down to demo too. Their USA distributo, Bluebird something or other, was not very helpful. After two contacts with them I gave up. A couple of days ago a dealer in Richmond I was talking to about amps, said he carried them, but I'm not sure though he has them on his showroom floor for demo. I'll check if I go up there as they were on my short list to have demoed. Good luck on your search. The Magicos might be worth the trouble of tracking down. I sure liked them. 

Gosta. Thanks for your input on the Tannoys and ATC's, but I happily purchased the Magico A3's Wednesday. 

Mike

olesno
87 posts
 
Tekton Encore. Please read some Tekton reviews. The last one in current StereoTimes. I sold KEF Blade 2 and got them. Exceptional!!!
skyscraper OP
824 posts
 
Oleso, I'll take a look.

Mike
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
I have heard the Tektons.  For the value, they are excellent.  However, be aware that it is a large number of drivers (on double impact, it is 11 drivers per speaker).  At $3,000 retail, you are basically getting a lot of cheap drivers.  If you're not hung up on individually driver quality, this speaker will definitely belt out loud music.  Overall, it is pretty darn good, but it's not the highest resolution sound and does have a somewhat dry character.

----
For the money, I would rather get some of the upper end Elac speakers in this price range.  I have heard Joseph Audio and they are awsome, but seriously expensive.  I actually built some speakers using the exact same Seas Magnesium drivers.  For much much less, you can look at Tyler Acoustic Classics.  Or Salk makes some speakers using the same Seas magnesium drivers.  Those Seas Magnesium drivers are ultra high resolution, and many people don't realize how much of the midrange driver does the high frequencies as well.

----
Other speakers I have heard that are excellent are Audio Physic, B&W D3, Sonus Faber.   I heard the Spendor and was not impressed at all.  Very blurry sounding, but nice if you want a warm speaker I guess.
More to discover