What are the best speakers for 80's hard rock?


Hello folks!
I want suggestions for best speakers and amp for 80's hard rock music. Many bad recordings, so many high end speakers (and amps) sounds very harsh and hard, with little bass. It's more important to me that my stereo can play bad recordings in a good way, than play good recordings in a fantastic way.

I want very laidback and soft treble, but I want a bass that goes deep and alo is very punchy.

I know many people say that I should here on vintage speakers. But I want new speakers. Any price range!

Thanks for suggestions!
rockpanther
stfoth-

during the 80's CV offered the "D" "DX" and "AT" series.  I owned the AT-12
which was overkill on Rock/HardRock/Metal music.  Actually, the 8" or 10"
models were more accurate.  If you had a large room and a very powerful amp, the 15" would wake the dead!
Picked up some Klipsch Chorus 2 speakers a few weeks ago. Newer Crites crossovers and titanium tweeter diaphragm. Spent lots of time with more "audiophile" type speakers and could never get a lot of rock/metal to sound right and dynamic like rock should be. Some were better than others.
To my ears these Chorus were made to rock from low volume to as high as you can stand. Phenomenal for that type of music. Playing some Motley Crue and old Metallica last night and have heard nothing better at my house. Bad recordings still rock and better recordings rock harder. The dynamics are still there. Colored ... probably. Fun as hell.. absolutely. 
Conceptually, it's hard to argue with Atmasphere.  As a practical matter, I completely disagree with his point.  At a given budget, I'd almost certainly choose different speakers were my listening preference 100% chamber music as opposed to 100% Van Halen.

In the former case, even at Unlimited budget, I might choose a great 'stat, like SoundLab. In the latter case, I'd be more inclined towards something like the MBL 101.  The speakers have different strengths and the different program materials play to/away from those strengths.

I don't need the last word in timbal accuracy, inner detail, octave to octave balance, etc to maximally enjoy Van Halen - I need huge dynamic range, bass impact, and the illusion of 3D space - that guitar needs to be palpable.  The 101s deliver that in a way the SoundLabs don't - at least in my experience with auditioning both.  The MBLs have a few issues that make me pause, but they are KILLER choices if your only need is the illusion of a rock band in your listening room.

Not only is no speaker (IMO) perfect, but speakers that are really SOTA in one particular area do two things -

1). They tend to point out that other very good speakers come up short in (at least) the narrow area that the standard excels in.

2). They tend to have one (or more) weaknesses that become evident when A-B tested vs the best competition.

There's no perfect speaker.  Some are more versatile than others, with no meaningful flaws but no SOTA areas, either.  Others make a different trade-off, kill it in one or two areas, but live with flaws on other fronts.  

My my own listening habits are Catholic enough that I'd probably spend my money on an all-around performer.  However, were my tastes really narrow (as implied by the OP) I'd make my decision in a different way.






Years ago, at SpeakerCraft/Marcof we built a line of speakers that we called Rock Boxes...
They were very accurate above 100hz, any audiophile would appreciate them... the woofers were sealed and crossed at 100hz and down,  we kept that perfect type qtc of .707, but the woofer was about 2db hotter than the top end.
It really was very satisfying on rock... I don't know if anything is out like that now, but that is what I'd recommend for an "All Rock" kind of listener.
I don't need the last word in timbal accuracy, inner detail, octave to octave balance, etc to maximally enjoy Van Halen - I need huge dynamic range, bass impact, and the illusion of 3D space - that guitar needs to be palpable.  The 101s deliver that in a way the SoundLabs don't - at least in my experience with auditioning both.
Sound Labs can be quite dynamic with the right amps. Its hard to make them work with solid state because they have a 30 ohm impedance in the bass which solid state can't drive with a lot of power.  For this reason a 100-watt tube amp can easily keep up with a 400 watt solid state amp on that speaker!

With the right amp the Sound Labs keep up with mbl101s no worries! They are quite fun to blast Massive Attack or Emerson Lake and Palmer. Not saying the same is not true of mbls by any means. You just have to make sure that the amp and speaker match, which is a different topic!

With regards to soundstage, dynamics, bass impact... you really need that to do classical music and a good deal of folk music.