Could use some help in choosing new speakers


Hi all,
I’m in the market for new floorstanding speakers for the following system: Rega P25, Dynavector 20X, Arcam CD92, Bryston B60 (could change soon).

I am looking for ~$800-1,200 used. I have used Totem Arros, really liked their sound overall, but need some more oomph. Right now I am back to my old reliables, Signet 280 floorstanders, which don’t really compare to the Totem’s, save a very nice sounding midrange.

Looking for a great all-around speaker, and love an airy, open, warm sound with a wide soundstage and good imaging/separation, but not giving up too much in detail and accuracy.

They need to be on the smaller side with good looks to satisfy the wife. So a relatively small footprint, and ~40 inches in height.

I listen to all kinds of music, mostly rock and classic jazz, with a fair amount of classical and world thrown in. So a good mix of acoustic and electric music. My listening room is 14'X 28'X 9'(H), speakers against the long wall, and I can't have them out too far from wall.

Unfortunately, it is not feasible for me to get to any stores to listen to anything, as there aren’t any hi-fi stores near me.
From reading up online, these are what I’ve come up with thus far:

Spendor S5e, Quad 22L2, and Monitor Audio RS6

Has anyone opinions as to the differences amoung these, or have anything else I should consider?

Many thanks in advance.
sandman012
Post removed 
I think Totems are a very good choice. The Hawks and the Arros are outstanding performers. There are alot of good choices though.
10-12 o'clock for listening at moderate to high levels.

Walking around the room doesn't dramatically change teh sound.
I just took delivery on a pair of Mirage OMD-15 floor-standers a week ago and now that they're broken in, they're just marvelous! In fact, I moved up to them for the same reason you seek to--I wanted something that would move more air in a cathedral-ceilinged open architecture living space, and the 4.5" 2-ways (even with sub) weren't quite doing it.

But the OMD-15s do it in spades, and if my setup is any indication, your little Bryston will probably be up to the task as well. The OMD-15s have a sensitivity rating of 91dB. This is a HUGE increase in volume-per-watt over the Totems, which are rated at 87dB. It would be like upgrading to a 150 wpc amp with your Totem (but the Arro's only rated for 80 watts max; these Mirages are rated to 250 watts).

They're the perfect size--40.8"h x 8"w x 12"d. Bi-wirable/ampable. Tremendous, room-filling soundstage with big sweet spot. With that comes less spot-on imaging, but that comes with the territory with wide dispersion.

These speakers are also plenty hi-rez to show up the quality of your upstream components. I was swapping 4 different amps in and out, trying bi-wiring and bi-amping, and could always tell a difference. The best matchup was an old 70 wpc high current Amber Series 70 power amp, so your Bryston should be a good match too. And if you want more oomph later, you can keep the Bryston and add a power amp and bi-amp the speakers.

The only downside is that these retail at $2500/pair. Crutchfield is an authorized dealer and that's their price. If you need to go cheaper, occasionally a grey market pair shows up new-in-box on eBay for around $1550 + ship.
I've got Spendor S5e, Totem Mite, Von Schweikert VR-1, and ProAc Response One SC speakers. They are all very good speakers in their own right. I've used the S5e's and VR-1's in a 14' X 24' x 8' room and they worked fine. I've used all these speakers in a 11' X 10.5' room and they worked well there too -- I've used different amps with them. I like the S5e best. Nice, pleasing, sweet sound with my Pathos Acoustics Classic One MK III and Pioneer 79DVi universal player and Polk Audio XM tuner. Outstanding sound! The bass is quite good for a small driver. I like that it has a separate driver for the woofer, and also crosses over at 4500 hz or something like that. Unfortunately, the low crossover at 700 hz or so, can be heard depending on singer, for example, we watched a Bing Crosby movie and when he sang you could hear his voice jump in frequency range, from deep tone to a bit higher pitch, so not a smooth transition, but abrupt. But other than that, great speaker. I've heard someone who loves piano say they did not like the S5e, so maybe there is a crossover range there too that is audible. But every speaker is weak in their crossover, if you know what to listen for you may be able to find it. I remember the Bose 301 speakers maybe 25 years ago, as they had a crossover range that was long and slow, which they said helped in that regard. I actually liked those speakers.

The Totem's are small, but sound big and still have good bass for their size, and only need maybe 10 watts. Of course, bigger cabinets or drivers give you more bass. VR-1's have an unusual bass loading, I think I heard it's a transmission line, but has a small port on the rear too. The bass is detailed, but not strong, but overall a nice sounding speaker (but can be somewhat analytical or at least the balance can be tilted towards the highs since the bass may not be strong, depends on the amp), and don't need much power either, i.e., maybe 10 watts. The Proac's are quite good all-rounders with good detail and also very easy to drive.