New house, wife reveals she hates my Maggies- looking for stand mount speaker suggestions


Just closed on a new house and as we were walking through and discussing furniture, my wife revealed she has always hated my Maggies and wants them not to make the move.  I have had a semi-dedicated music room, so they were kind of out of sight at our old place, so she never complained.  So a bad news but good news (new speakers!) situation.

Present set up is near field, room perhaps 10x10,but partially open, angled ceilings for some pretty good acoustics. Should be able to set up similar size near field space in new home.

Amp is Primaluna HP with 8xEL34, Conrad Johnson ET7 tube preamp, PS Audio Direct stream DAC and Naim Uniti digital ripper/hard drive.  I listen to lots of different music, but always come back to acoustic guitar or piano with female or male vocalists, or acoustic jazz.  Big soundstage, vocal warmth and detail (guitar strings plucking) are what I enjoy.

My Wife liked (the looks of) my old Rogers LS3/5a back in the day, or my Reference 3a Royal Masters.  So I figure I will be looking for a stand mount monitor.  But my budget is $5-10k, used or new, so I suspect I can do better than the LS3/5a.

i have always loved the Joseph Audio Pulsars, but you never see them used and the new graphine ones are out of my price range. Looking for other ideas:  Sonus Faber are easy to look at, but I have never listened to their monitors.  The monitor versions of Raidho and Focals are ugly enough to fail the WAF test.

so help me out here- what should I consider?

meiatflask

Efficient speakers 90db or higher nominal 6 or 8ohms that remain above 4-6ohms for most of the frequency range. Your Primaluna will perform best. JBL 4367, Klipsch Forte or Klipsch Cornwall worth considering. 

If you want to keep your existing equipment and want a stand mount speaker for a small room, check out the new ps audio fr5. Killer speaker.

Another direction would be to get rid of all your equipment except for a streamer/server and look at the Kef LS60’s. Slim nice looking speakers that would take up the same floor space as a stand mount, pick your color, blue looked great. The big plus is this speaker has multiple small drivers that will sound much larger, give you good bass, and they use the famous uni-q mid/tweeter driver.

I moved to a new house recently and my dedicated audio room was 27x16x15’ tall ceilings and my large speakers were too big for my new 16x12x9 room. I went looking for a stand mount speaker but what I found was that a smaller tower with multiple drivers sounded the best. I added a couple of rel subwoofers and it sounds very good. The rel’s have the smaller 8” driver with a 10” passive.which blend in with the speakers 6.5 woofers.

@rbstehno On stereo Rels, and @whitestix  on growing a pair (so to speak)

l have a pair of Rel T9i’s in my system. I also have a “better half” who has no interest in hi-fi. We both have a house and shared interests but not hitched, or joined at the hips.

During covid we decided to decamp in one property to live within the regulations. We talked it through and l set up a CD based system at hers to stop me from going mad without my music. I respected the fact it was her home and bought speakers that would not need a sub. I left my records and decks at my place. Compromise.

The Rels were a bridge too far and leaving the LPs and a turntable behind was a great solution. Everyone happy. We still live between our two properties, hers in Summer (big garden) mine in winter (by the sea). Some of our friends say it is the perfect scenario.

l can not say for sure l would be still in this relationship if she had said no to me invading her space, but compromising is key to understanding everyone’s needs.

The stereo Rels l knew would have always been a deal breaker. LOL

 

The upside of the story is respect and tolerance proven by the fact the extra hi-fi is still at hers and no issue….. the music l play however is…. Ha Ha!

Live and let live but know where the boundaries are. Never settle for less than 50/50 

Well no worries ther speaker is going to sound as magical as magnepans when they are setup correctly. So your question is interesting in that you’ll be going towards a completely different sound. I think if you love the sound of magnepans, then keep them somehow. If you can’t then very good  conventional speakers should be fine. I own Magnepans along with conventional speakers along with monitors and I have Electrostats as well. I own also the speaker you mentioned, the LS3/5a.  I think this speaker only really shines and works best as near field in a midsize to small room. Also, I have a tight suggestion on this speaker. I have owned many versions throughout the yrs and the internal crossover parts and drivers are different depending on the serial numbers. Only serial numbers 4,000 to 11,000 on the Rogers LS3/5a would I recommend using a tube amplifier. Outside those serial numbers I prefer a Solid State amp.  Aside from the LS3/5a speaker, a friend of mine just upgraded his QLN monitor speaker to the $25,000 monitor version. His previous QLN prestige monitor retailed for somewhere between $9,000 to $12,000.  His Prestige is available for purchase if interested. I think he asking around $5,000 and it’s a really nice sounding speaker.