Speakers - Your "Safest" Choice

About two years ago, I purchased a pair of Fyne Audio F-702 floor-standing speakers, replacing my Infinity Modulus system of 1990, not the mass market Infinity speakers but the one's with the servo-woofer and EMIT tweeters.  I upgraded the rest of my system as well, and I have found the Fynes produce excellent imaging, superb tonal qualities for the instruments, and a broad sound stage. My music tastes run from Beethoven and Bruch to the Moody Blues and CCR, with stops along the way for Big Band music, soft rock, and vocalists of the late 1940s, 1950s, and a smattering of later vocalists; I listen at slightly loud, but no where near concert, levels.   If I had $20K to spend on speakers and knowing there are a great many really good speakers out there, I would consider and audition the B&W 803 D4 (admittedly slightly over budget), the Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT, and the Fyne F704s, admitting some initial bias towards the Fyne F704s, which have 12" bass drivers compared to my F702s 8" bass drivers.  I am just very pleased with the sound quality produced by the F702s and believe the F704s would provide that with more punch at the bottom end.  Of note, the 700 series speaker are made in Scotland.

@fastfreight ,

“Or get one of the last pairs of Revel Salon 2's for about 10 - 12k.  Besst value out there IMHO.”

I don’t think his amp would be anywhere near powerful enough for the big Revels as I’ve heard they require BIG power to get them cooking. I’ve heard them but can’t remember the amplification but they were big monoblocks. 

@gnoworyta wrote: "What I was trying to get to is the speaker that you or others think are a "crowd pleaser" (for lack of a better term)...."

I understand the appeal of a safe-bet "crowd pleaser" speaker, but imo this is an unrealistic expectation for two reasons.

First, while a wide range of listeners would probably agree on a list of desirable attributes for a loudspeaker, in the real world tradeoffs are inevitable, and individual tolerance for the various inevitable shortcomings (in dynamic capability, timbre, imaging, sweet spot size, bass extension, inner detail, aesthetics, positioning requirements, or whatever) varies widely.

Second, given that speaker/room interaction plays a very significant if not dominant role in the final result, imo it is premature to specify speakers without having a pretty good idea of what their acoustic environment is going to be.  Actually, I would expand this to include the amplification, with "speakers + room + amp(s)" being in effect a "system within a system".   

Imo there really is nothing approaching a "one size fits all" solution within a given loudspeaker price range.

Duke

Three cheers for grislybutter providing an actual list of good speakers. Congrats on the research and time ti took to compile. You have provided an excellent service.

Thanks!

For rock? Big ATCs.