I Thought I Had My Speaker Choice Narrowed Down. Maybe Not?


I'm in the market for a set of 2 channel speakers. I thought I had it narrowed down to a few brands:

Magnepan, Spendor, Walsh, Tekton, Saulk, Egglestonworks. 

I need to see if you can all help me in clarifying my decision-making process.   As you can see from the Audiogoners comments below, there seems to be a lot varying opinions regarding these manufacturers. 

I like the clarity of electrostats. that said,  Magnepan .7 and 1.7 come up frequently: 

- "I very much enjoy my pair of Maggie .7s" 

- "Amazing - Maggie 1.7i ($2,200)with the Maggie Base Panel($800)"

 - "I had great luck with the Magnepan 1.7i and SVS SB-16 Ultra subwoofer"

 OK great, I’m going with Magnepan, but then, I went on to read: 

- "Spendor A7s will better (Maggie .7s) in most regards and their price reflects that bigger soundstage, greater detail, deeper bass, sweeter midrange"

- "My Spendor are about as stealthy and transparent in this regard as my Maggie .7s" 

OK, now Spendors! But wait! Should I go for D series: 

- "Regarding differences between Spendor A series and D series, the D has superior tweeter  (in house design LPZ, it’s fantastic), superior rear port (5th gen Formula 1 inspired) whatever that means but Spendor considers it a major upgrade over A series, and superior internal damping construction".

- "I own D7 and find them superb" 

- "Spendor D7 checks most of the boxes. I got mine new for $5500 just about in your range"

Or the A series: (don't like shrill):

- "I agree that Spendors may check all your boxes but I’d go with the A7s over the D7s  if you found the KEF LS50s "shrill."

 - " After home audition of both, purchased Spendor A7s; preferred over D Series"

 Or maybe some Ohms?:

- "I have never owned any Ohm Walsh speakers, too expensive, but friends own them and they are spectacular"

 Maybe not: 

- "Had previously ordered Ohm Walsh 2000 Talls, but sent them back"

Of course, then’s  there Tekton:

- "Tekton Moabs, they won best sound of show a few months ago"

 But they are just too darn big.

 I think the Salks are it! (thanks Larry):

 - "The Song3 Encore's from SALK Audio would be my choice.They are $6,500 and sounded better than $50,000 speakers I heard at the RMAF." 

- "I bought Salk Song3 Beat speakers this year and love them, paired with Krell amp and preamp I no longer search for upgrades. My previous speakers were Maggie’s, Kef and B&Ws"

 - “For good sound and great styling, I'd take a look at Salk speakers. 

Then, after all that this wrench gets thrown into it:

- “Klaus Bunge of Odyssey Audio makes a speaker, the Liquids. They are incredible, I have the Salk Song3 beat, Focal 948 Aria, Egglestonworks Emma evolution and the Liquids far better than all above"

UGH!

Of course, there was this final word :

- “Don’t spend 5 thousand spend 2 grand on the Kef new R 2 speakers they sound like a 5 thousand speaker”

There was one other final comment, something about if you can’t afford a Wilson (and something else) they all sound the same anyways, but I can’t find that anymore, possibly it was deleted?

Now I know it's all about your own equipment, ears and room, for sure, but as I can’t listen to all these speakers myself, especially in my own room with my own electronics. And I really don't want to have to 30-day in-home trial all of them as it could run into a tremendous amount of shipping and possibly re-stocking fees. So I am looking to you all for you expertise on what you may sound best with my audio equipment, which is simply:

Coda Csib integrated amp - V1 configuration: 150 Watts per channel Class AB into 8 Ohms, 300 Watts per channel Class AB into 4 Ohms, Class A ~18 Watts

Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2v2SE streaming Tidal through a Roon Nucleus

Looking for something fairly efficient as I want good clear sound without having to crank it up too loud and good bass sidestepping the call for subwoofer.

I’m sorry. I am moving soon, so I cannot provide any room dimensions yet but and I will treat room acoustics accordingly once there.

 

Thank you!


high-amp
IME these are some very good yet forgiving speakers.  You can look them up on Hifi Shark site...

Verity Audio Parsifal Encore
Sonus Faber Olympica lll
Gershman GAP 520-X
Gershman Avant Garde
Nola Viper ll

Best of luck in your search. 


I have a recently acquired pair of Spendor A7's and can tell you that they are pretty forgiving with respect to positioning, mainly to the way the bass port works and the tweeter dispersion (not ultra wide). They are also very easy to drive (impedance curve) and fairly efficient. So that addresses two of your concerns mentioned above.

I would like to hear them next to the new D7.2's but concerned that they are still too 'analytical' and bright like some have experienced with the D7's. Still using the same tweeter. Reviews only just starting to come out so unsure yet.

That said, the A7's are wonderfully musical, natural, open speakers that are still fun/dynamic/punchy and have excellent base detail. But if you play lots of bass thumping EDM you may want a sub.
Excellent response nquery, thank you. The Spendor is one of the very few speakers I can listen too locally, about a 3-hour drive away. I will definitely check them out.