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Speaker audition: a novice’s journey

I am no expert at audio. But I like to listen to music, primarily classical and then a little bit of everything else such as jazz and soft/alternate rock, both at home and concerts. I am looking for speakers that can play classical well, can represent the ‘body’ of a full scale orchestra. That can soundstage and image well. And that can isolate different instruments. Oh yes, my budget is 10-15K.

On this forum I got tremendous help from several folks. Now I have a list of speakers that I need to check out.

So, sooner the better and I decided to take a plunge. Along the way I’ll also learn how to really audition speakers. It’s a little dummy’s guide to myself. I wouldn’t get into technicalities, my head rings when a dealer tries to explain first order network and phase-time coherence. After all it ain’t matters how sophisticated the science is. The speakers need to sound good. Period. My evaluation is purely by how it sounds, caveat being on untrained ears. I am planning to use the same set of music so that I can get a fair comparison.

I decided to write down my experience (coming in the response links below); hopefully someone, someday will be benefited by it. I welcome your inputs/suggestions.
neal1502
rtn1
535 posts
 
Similar to you, I listen exclusively to Germanic-Austro-Hungarian-Russian classical music from the 1790s (Beethoven), onward. For me, it just does not hold if the soundstage is not there. I need to be convinced that I am sitting in front of an orchestra. Speakers are the rate-limiting-step in soundstage reproduction. I think you are correct in putting soundstage as a priority in your listening. In addition, detail and sense of scale are very important. You need to strike the correct balance between detail/bite, and smoothness/lushness. If it is too smooth, it becomes boring for me.

Once you find a speaker that accomplishes your goals, there is so much which can be done upstream to refine and fine-tune the sound.

Also, do not become speaker poor. You will not enjoy your expensive speakers if you cannot get the proper amp for them.
hevac1
812 posts
 
Neal1502,
I have had Verity speakers for a while now and can tell you that I have had no problem making their speakers disappear. As a matter of fact at times I wonder how these smallish speaker could produce such a wide and deep sound stage.
I would recommend you locate another dealer and listen again.
cdc
1,659 posts
 
Hope Tannoy is on your list. They have some great speakers for under $15,000

Westminster

Yorkminster
mjwpicman
30 posts
 
Neal
We're having fun now, aren't we. As I said in the past letter, I'm a big Vandersteen fan because you get so much for the money, and they also score so highly on the emotional interactive scale. That is the most important component for me. Speakers may be the best technically, but if they don't connect emotionally, if they don't thrill me, nothing else matters. So I am going to recommend also the new Quads. After listening to them at Brooks Berdan for a while I thought " I could live with these and be happy". I thought they were wonderful. And only 10K.
Good luck and keep ue posted. MJWPicMan.
magnumpi205
504 posts
 
Any updates on the search?
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