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Looking for speaker recommendations that I can purchase on Amazon.com

Budget: under US$5000 and would prefer a price point of less than $3000/pair. The most expensive speakers I have owned so far are Polk RTi A7's, so this will be a big jump for me.

Purpose: music

Room: I tend to move every few years, so I don't want speakers that will work best only with very specific room conditions. Currently, I will be using these in a medium size room of about 22 feet x 18 feet. The room has carpet and window treatments.

Music sources: CD's, lossless music files stored on computer and MP3's when that's all I have available. I don't ahve any SACD's yet, but I plan on purchasing more high quality music once I have this system set up.

Music styles: acoustic, Indian classical (sitar, srangi, flute), alternative rock (Portugal. The Man, Sleeping with Sirens, etc.), older rock (e.g., Rush).

The speakers should sound good playing the Tanpura (aka Tambura). It is a classical Indian accompaniment instrument in the "drone" category. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanpura) Example of sound here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7tlqXix_eo
With bad equipment that sound is fatiguing to me. Live it is beautiful and relaxing. Hopefully I can find speakers that will do it justice.

Personal Preferences: I am looking for non-fatiguing, warm, musical qualities. In another discussion topic here on this forum, @mtrot and I agreed about "smooth, sweet, soft, silky treble" and "shimmery, airy cymbals" as goals.

Amplifier: Yamaha P5000S

DAC: to be determined, but probably something like the Teac NT-503

Finally, the speakers of choice must be sold on Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com (or possibly some other similar retail website). I have personal reasons for this limitation. It isn't always true that I will need to buy all my speakers or audio gear from one of these sites, but for the moment, it is a requirement. Please don't recommend anything that isn't available on one of these sites. Thanks.

lowoverdrive
lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
673 posts
 
Willemj, per your message:

" lou_setriodes,
You are I think too fast in your scepticism about that Yamaha amplifier. Did you actually read the review of the Yamaha P3500S that I linked to, and the very detailed measurements that the reviewer published? These days I at least rarely see such factual detail in a review. It is a first rate amplifier and fully up to high hifi standards. I therefore bought the smaller P2500S for my son, and I can only confirm that amplifier’s sonic qualities."

No, I have not read the review and I’m not a meaurements guy whatsoever. I’ve heard things that measure horribly that sound amazing and vice versa. I’ve heard classic tube gear that measures horribly but is so sweet and euphonic that it was some of the best sounding gear I ever heard. Cut off in the lows and highs but that midrange was to die for and just so musical.

So I much prefer musicality over measurements. I’ve heard single ended gear that measures poorly but when you hear it, it just sounds so right. I’ll take that anyday over measurements on paper. It certainly is a benchmark to be looked at initially, but I let my ears decide.  
willemj
1,036 posts
 
This makes it perfectly clear: you want a euphonic system, including even order harmonic distortion. That is up to you. Conversely, I don’t want any distortion, just a straight wire with gain. I don’t want electronics to have a sound of their own. My idea of musicality is to leave the music as much as possible as it is. That is my very personal preference.
As for the Yamaha, it measures very well (just read the test), but it also sounds very clean and neutral. And it is not class D but A/B. My son’s P2500S and the tested P3500S have traditional power supplies, the bigger P5000S has a switched mode power supply.
imhififan's avatar
imhififan
2,109 posts
 
EEEngine (Energy Efficient Engine) Technology:
 EEEngine (Energy Efficient Engine) Technology makes more efficient use of AC power by reducing power consumption and heat generation without sacrificing output power or sound quality. When power requirements are low, the system uses a highly efficient current buffer to transparently switch input power on and off as needed. As power requirements increase, an independently responding auxiliary power line supplies additional power as required. Output isn't compromised because the auxiliary power line is driven by the power supply voltage which maintains maximum output to the speaker load.
Yamaha P-Series power amplifier is class H
courant
119 posts
 
> Finally, the speakers of choice must be sold on Amazon.com...

I'm surprised no one has suggested this:

Amazon Customer Service Phone Number is 1-888-280-4331.

Why not simply call them and ask for assistance on what pair of speakers to get?

Personally, given the size of your room and the amount of juice your Yammy kicks-out, I'd recommend getting a single Klipsch Klipschorn from Amazon, and mono-wiring it PA "auditorium style". Your Yammy has a stereo to mono bridge, so going mono is a piece of cake.

Another thing to consider is to buy your speakers at REI. That way, when you move, you simply: Take the speakers back to REI; Say you don't like them; And ask for a Store Credit. Then, once you've arrived at your new locale, you use your store credit to re-buy the speakers.

lowoverdrive OP
169 posts
 
@courant "Why not simply call them and ask for assistance on what pair of speakers to get?"

Amazon's customer service reps have little to no knowledge of audio products (or any product-specific knowledge at all) in my experience.

However, many of the independent third party sellers on the Amazon marketplace do have customer service phone numbers. Some of these sellers are reputable brick and mortar audio stores, and they do have expert product knowledge. I have been in touch with several such sellers on Amazon. But I'm trying to educate myself by reading the forums too.

I have already learned a lot, but I have much more to learn.
More to discover