Decent speakers for mid-level AVR

@pdxmonkeyboy I currently own Focal Aria 926 towers that I am using with an AVR and find it quite satisfying.  I am using a Yamaha Aventage A6A.  It puts out 140 watts a channel.  It provides plenty of power to the towers.

However, to up the game somewhat, I went and got a Marantz MM7025 2-channel power amp only to drive the front speakers.  That Marantz puts out the same 140 a channel but of course is dedicated to the towers and not sharing duties with other channels.  It made an audible difference in my system and I got the amp used on this site for half the retail pricing.

This setup works very well for me and is quite musical.  The 948's of course are a larger tower and may need more juice, but as I mentioned going to a separate power amp and letting the AVR just handle the preamp duties was a good move for me.  

I’ve had good results with Ascend Acoustics towers. They’ve worked well for both music and home theater, are very well designed by a great engineer with a great company. 

Company Web site is here https://www.ascendacoustics.com/

and I did a long review here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/review-of-ascend-acoustics-elx-tower-speakers-released-2022

Get the RAAL ribbon tweeter.

I have a similar Onkyo AVR but it is an older model. Mine has 100 watts per channel @ 8 ohms. I have a pair of Thiel CS6 speakers which are difficult to drive (they dip to around 3 ohms) but are not especially worse than some newer speakers, particularly B&W or some of the Focal models. When I sent away my Krell KSA 300S for recapping I tried running my Thiels with the Onkyo. The difference was not subtle. I literally laughed out loud when I played the first song. The bass was anemic, the soundstage flattened, and it sounded sort of like an AM radio compared to the Krell.

My point is that an Onkyo AVR is not designed to run a speaker with a difficult load. If you go with a new set of speakers that you intend to run with your Onkyo I would pay particular attention to how they measure for impedance. Stereophile runs excellent impedance measurements in their speaker reviews. If you buy speakers with a difficult impedance curve I think you should seriously consider using a dedicated amp for the main speakers that can handle 4 ohm loads.

Regarding speakers, my only advice is that you seek out the new SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle and give them a listen. They are a little above your budget but I recommend you hear them to see what's possible for $5k. They are quite warm sounding with generous bass but they are very quick and detailed. They set a new standard in that price range.

Regarding speakers, my only advice is that you seek out the new SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle and give them a listen. They are a little above your budget but I recommend you hear them to see what’s possible for $5k. 

@8th-note  Yeah those were one of the first I thought of too, but if you read the Stereophile review they’re a nightmare to drive with large impedance dips and difficult phase angles that drive the EDPR to like 1.5 so not really a good match for just about any AVR. 

@soix I completely agree. Most new speakers present a difficult amplifier load unless you are looking at something like Klipsch or Devore Fidelity. I would not recommend using a mid-grade AVR for most high fidelity speakers.

For my TV system in the living room I bought an Anthem AVR that can handle difficult speaker loads because I wanted to use KEF R3 Meta speakers that dip to about 3 ohms. It sounds very good but the Anthem was quite a bit more expensive than a similar wattage Onkyo or Denon. BTW, the SVS speakers I heard were being powered by an Anthem AVR.