speakers for classical music


Would like to hear from classical music listeners as to best floorstanders for that genre. B&W 803's sound good but want to get input with regard to other possibilities.
musicnoise
for the person recommending vienna acoustics - what electronics work well for those speakers (mahlers and something smaller)- both amp and preamp? And in general what are people who listen to classical music using to drive their speakers? Tastes run from symphony (mahler beethoven) through instrumental and chamber.
Its true that really good speakers, when matched properly to the rest of the system, will sound good with all genres of music and types of recordings.

Classical, particularly large orchestral arrangements, and some would say piano, is generally one of the harder genres for a speaker to deliver fully. I've found Big Band music to be perhaps the hardest genre of all for speakers to really deliver fully.
No one mentioned Sonus Faber. I found that they were very holographic compared to the VA Haydns and seemed to do better with less power. IMHO
IMHO, Sonus Fiber and VA are from the same school. At your price point you should listen to both, IMHO. I, obviously, prefer VA, but I can see what others see in SF.

Dave
06-06-08: Musicnoise said:
"for the person recommending vienna acoustics - what electronics work well for those speakers (mahlers and something smaller)- both amp and preamp? And in general what are people who listen to classical music using to drive their speakers? Tastes run from symphony (mahler beethoven) through instrumental and chamber."

The VAs like relatively high power (at least 100 wpc). I've heard them sound very good with Primare, Bryston, Conrad Johnson and Rowland. My best experience has been with the Rowlands, but that's kind of "the ultimate".

Dave