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What speaker – under $10k – has the best timbre and tonal qualities?

Several years ago, a prominent reviewer had this to say as he was praising the natural and life-like tonal qualities of a particular speaker:

It’s [speakers] like these that make me question the priorities of audiophiles who relegate accuracy of timbre to secondary status. How are the richness and color of instruments, voices, ensembles, and textures to be reproduced in all their infinite variety and beauty if a loudspeaker has less than accurate reproduction of timbre? What do dynamics, imaging, detail, transparency, and the like matter if voices and instruments don’t sound like themselves?

I’ve come the same realization, late in the game. I recently made a lateral move from one of the most popular of recent speaker models to a different speaker, because it sounded so much more natural and realistic in timbre. I sacrificed a touch of image precision in doing so, but it has been well worth it. The sound is so much more engaging. It’s like going from a high-resolution black and white photograph – which is very detailed and impressive – to a color version of the same photo, but with slightly less resolution. The color version offers so much more in terms of realism.

So I’m now contemplating the purchase of what I hope will be my last speakers, with the objective of realistic, natural, and rich (but not artificially warm) tone being the primary attribute.  

What speakers, under $10k, would you recommend? (I’m driving them with a PrimaLuna Prologue Premium)


wester17

Showing 1 response by m-db

m-db's avatar
m-db
930 posts
 
No suggestion here.
Without glomming onto the word "best" in your subject line, the body of your post described your experience and goal quite clearly and reminiscent of my experience.

If your like me I’m guessing you may have ridden the audio merry-go-round for a time.
Faced with the reality that a thirty minute listen of the multiple products at an audio show or in stores is nothing like that first dissatisfied listen at home as the fear of the possibility system synergy could add to the cost of your resent purchase and still not reach the goal you’ve heard, just not at home.

Like you I made a not so lateral change to an unaffordable new speaker at the time which was suggested by someone I later learned is an industry professional. Years past until I could afford his suggestion used and bingo. That was thirteen years ago.

All the BEST in your search.
M
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