Speaker advice for listening to Blues music


Hi, new to the forum, and hoping I can get some help finding the right speakers... I'm a Blues guitar player and have a dedicated music room for my guitars/amps. I usually spend time playing my guitars and recently decided to setup a decent system for listening to my Blues music. I first started with a Marantz integrated (PM8005) and some Kef R300, source is a Marantz ND8006 and I mostly play FLAC files from a NAS, but also started streaming from Spotify and now trying Tidal. This setup was great at first, very revealing, but found the R300 were not the right speakers for the kind of music I listen to, but they were great for some Jazz and did well with good recordings, which most of my Blues recordings weren't, specially live albums. I also found them to be a little boomy in that small room (12' X 12'), so I moved them to the living room instead and added a matching center, they're perfect there.

Next came the LS50, read so much about them I had to get a pair to try. Wow! I still can't believe what these small speakers can do, the details I hear, soundstage, imaging, it's all there. But, just like the R300, since they're so revealing they're horrible with my favorite Blues recordings. It's great to listen to excellent recordings and enjoy the music these speakers are making but I want to enjoy MY music, the Blues greats I've been listening to for over 30 years. If it sounds great in the car then I should be able to find the right gear to duplicate at home, right? On some good Blues recordings it sounds excellent, but most of my favorites aren't good recordings.

Since I only play my guitars through old Fender amps I figured I should replace the Marantz integrated with a tube amp, so next came the PrimaLuna integrated. I wanted to get a "warmer" sound and hope it'll fix the issues I was having with most crappy recordings... I want to hear BB's beautiful guitar tone and crank it up, without hurting my ears. Both Kefs were too fatiguing to listen to. And on most live recordings guitars sound way too thin and bright, not what I'm used to hearing. A good example is Albert King's Wednesday Night in San Francisco, that Flying V can be painful to listen to after a couple of minutes! Not so in the car or even just using headphones and my laptop. I understand that it's because the system is more revealing, but is it possible to have both, revealing and musical so that one can enjoy the music they love? The PrimaLuna did help and it's staying, I like what I'm hearing so far, and I get to play with tubes, something I enjoy doing already :)

Right now I'm breaking in some Wharfedale Denton 80th, I wanted to try something with a soft dome tweeter, something less fatiguing than the LS50. I'm at 70+ hours so far and they're sounding much better, not as fatiguing, but something is missing... I prefer the LS50's soundstage and details, but they're both not that great for electric guitar. The Dentons are more forgiving but I don't find them musical and they don't disappear like the LS50s do.

So what are my choices? Do I stick with bookshelf, try some floor standing? What about single driver speakers (Omega, Zu...)? Are those the answer to what I'm looking for? I need something more forgiving, musical, efficient so I can crank it up when I feel like playing along some times... I want the guitar to sound full and not thin and bright. It's a small room and not a lot of space due to my guitar gear. My budget is also limited, would like to keep it under $2k, I already have a hobby and don't want this to get out of control :)

Forgot to mention, I also have a Rel sub, so not too worried about the low end. Sorry for the long post and thanks for any help!
cedarblues
91 messages in, I may be late to the blues party - but let me suggest a pair of JBL 4300 series speakers with Mcintosh amp/preamp. For your room, restored vintage 4344 speakers would be great, but you could put your head into the music with a pair of 4350s in your room and they would be great. The room may need some treatment with big boxes like those. Dead room and it would be blues heaven. 
And don't worry about all the power cleaning, cable audiophile thing. There are times to get your head out of the toy box and listen. I can tell you this as my current system uses Sonus Faber Stradivari powered by Audia Flight Strumento No 4 (previously Audio Research Ref 210s). And I'd note the large speaker/smallish room combination, deadened, will get you to that car interior proximity.
Wow! Those are gorgeous speakers! And the specs seem right for what I'm looking for, high efficiency and a single 8" driver.

@br3098  will this solve all my problems? :) how would they do in a smaller 12X12 room? Based on the dimensions (I think you need to update them in your listing, 18" wide??), do they need bigger stands? They're kinda wide and tall... I have PrimaLuna integrated (35 wpc), will this be a good match in your opinion? Source is all digital, CD and FLAC.

Thanks!
cedarblues, I have paired these speakers with several of my amps including 2W 45 SET monoblocks, a 5W EL34 (wired in triode mode), a 12W EL84 integrated and a 25W mac MC225 7591 PP,  All sounded great but, as you would guess, very different.  I'm mostly a vinyl guy but I do run streaming digital as well and it sounds wonderful.

There is no reason why these speakers will sound great with your Primaluna.  Use 8 or 12 Ohm taps on your amp.

Set-up your speakers very carefully, confirm the "sweet spot", and add a DSPeaker 2.0 room correction device.  You will be happy happy.