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Excellent Speakers for Classical Music - $2,000 USD Budget

Hello All...I am primarily a classical music listener, leaning more towards solo piano, symphony/orchestral, and chamber music. I have a Rotel A14 integrated amp in which I plan to add mono amplifiers to at some point in the future. I let a pair of B&W 804 Nautilus Speakers slip through my fingers recently. There is a B&W 804 Matrix set for sale near me, but don’t know if the Nautilus are better than the Matrix. So, I let a good pair slip through my fingers. But, it got me to thinking...Are there any other brands that I should consider besides B&W? I had in mind to audition Magenpan and Martin Logan electrostatics. Seeing that I only want to spend around $2,000, does anyone have any ideas?

In my office, I use Adam A7x nearfield monitors with ribbon tweeters, and for headphones, I love my Sennheiser 800S’. I like a nice detailed, clear, and forward sound. Would another ribbon tweeter floor standing set do it for me? Electrostats the way to go?

Looking forward to your suggestions.
128x128dfwbach
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jjss49
6,608 posts
 
But the regret does.


man if i lived on the east coast i would be there in a jiff with a hifi bud and big suv to get those sweetheart 9/1’s... they are monsters though, certainly a challenge to handle and move around without knicking the lovely cabinets - i guess being a floorstander they can be ’walked’ around more easily than a large hundred pound standmount!
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dfwbach OP
7 posts
 
Thanks everyone for your advice. I was able to virtually listen to a newer set of Spendor speakers, and boy was I blown away by how good they sounded. Good thing is that I'm going on vacation tomorrow so I'll have plenty of time to figure out the logistics and to figure out if I go for the B&W or thr Spendors. Either will more than certainly fit the bill for classical.  Thanks again! 
mlsstl
1,378 posts
 
Between B&W or Spendor, there would be no question for me. Between those two, Spendor is the far more natural sounding speaker to my tastes.
mrklas
441 posts
 
There’s great speakers at your price point. Audition, listen to friends systems and try to get a home trial. 
I think Maggie’s could be enjoyable given the room size and I prefer Sonus Faber - used Sonettos could be an option. 
audiokinesis
2,713 posts
 
IF you have sufficient placement flexibility I suggest Magnepans, be they new or used.

When positioned about five feet out from the "front" wall, the spectrally-correct backwave energy of the Maggies arrives after a sufficiently long time delay that it does a good job of conveying the spaciouness and envelopment of a good classical recording without any significant downsides.

Duke
speaker designer, long-time Maggie admirer, and sometime Maggie owner
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