Look for a pair of New Large Advents, particularly the ones with the "bull-nose" cabinets. They’re a versatile speaker and sound good with any genre. I recently compared them back-to-back with some new Vandersteen 2Ce Sig IIs ($3K/pair) and returned the 2Ces.
It’s not uncommon for the woofers to need re-foamed but it’s easy to do and re-foam kits are available from many vendors. My pair is all-original except for the foam surrounds and they still sound better than 3/4 of new <$3K speakers I’ve auditioned/owned. I have five pairs of newer speakers in my home at the moment, all of which retail for over $2K and there are only 2 pairs I prefer to the Advents.
Even when I sit them on the floor, they somehow project a soundstage of believable height, and they’re not finnicky when it comes to placement. I usually spend hours dialing-in the placement of speakers but with the Advents, I plop them on the floor, equidistant from the wall, with just a smidge of toe-in and they sound great - no need to bust out the lasers and measuring tape.
It’s not uncommon for the woofers to need re-foamed but it’s easy to do and re-foam kits are available from many vendors. My pair is all-original except for the foam surrounds and they still sound better than 3/4 of new <$3K speakers I’ve auditioned/owned. I have five pairs of newer speakers in my home at the moment, all of which retail for over $2K and there are only 2 pairs I prefer to the Advents.
Even when I sit them on the floor, they somehow project a soundstage of believable height, and they’re not finnicky when it comes to placement. I usually spend hours dialing-in the placement of speakers but with the Advents, I plop them on the floor, equidistant from the wall, with just a smidge of toe-in and they sound great - no need to bust out the lasers and measuring tape.