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Speaker upgrade itch Opinions 2500$used

Hello all and happy new year!!!

Like you all I have the upgrade itch and have decided that the speakers are what I want to change out next.

1. My goal is the most holographic soundstage and best imaging I can afford at this price range
2. I have no preference between bookshelf and tower speakers
3. I have no bass requirements as I currently live in an apartment and wouldn't want the bass to annoy the neighbors anyway!
4. Resale value is important, so very rare brands are out
5. My next speaker upgrade probably wont be for 2-5 years
6. Appearence isn't important, although I'd like to keep a reasonable footprint for the speakers
7. This is for a 2 channel only system

Currently the only speakers on my list to audition are Audio Physics Virgo IIs so all other suggestions are appreciated!

Some info about my tastes:

My current system:
Tyler Reference Monitors
Rogue Audio Magnum 66/88 (pre/amp)
CAL CL15 (cdp)
Transparent Audio MusicLink Plus Interconnects
PS Labs Lab2 powercord on cdp
Harmonic Tech ProAC-11 powercord on amp
(no special room treatments)

Current room is 14x18, but will be moving again in 7 months, so who knows what next (so not shopping for room specific speakers!)

The cd's I've been playing a lot of lately:
Cyndi Lauper - At Last
Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue
Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Sessions
Paul Simon - Graceland
Peter, Paul & Mary - 1st LP
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Steely Dan - 2 Against Nature
Laureena McKennit - The Visit
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac and Rumors
geoffgarcia
s7horton
1,077 posts
 
I would have to agree that the Revel F30 would be a good choice, but will need lots of power. I was going to suggest audio physic virgo II's until I went back and reread your original post. That's what I own and I absolutely love them! I had ML electrostats for a while in an apartment and liked them but not like I appreciate the virgos. I think the biggest problem I had with the ML's was placement issues. If you have room to pull the virgos off the back wall and also away from the side walls a little, I think you will enjoy them. Plus, good reasale!
s23chang
617 posts
 
IMHO, speakers are not your issue here. You should look into possible preamp/amp and interconnect upgrade and power cord down grade in price. What speaker cables are you using?
Believe or not, all these matters.
For preamp, if you like the octal tube sound then stay with it.
For the amp, you might want to consider different type of tube amps. I personally prefer 6L6GC sound. You can also try KT90 tubes in your amp.
For source interconnect, you might want something with superior resolution and big open sound cable.
For Amp and preamp interconnect, you might want something with more weight and tight sound.
For speaker cables, you might want to look into pure silver speaker cables.
For power cords, you might want to try Chris Van Hausen's cord.

I lend my friend a whole set of interconnect and speaker cables, and power cords and it gave him eye-popping results. The transparent cable has to go. It is flat sounding compare to many cables out there ( even my home brew cables sounds way better than that.)

Be open mind and re-arrange your setup before you jump into another set of speakers. I would never switch out of my ATC SCM10s.

Just my 2 cents
davewavaolcom
193 posts
 
Try some beat up thiel 2.3's or 2.2's
gileon
45 posts
 
Personally, I think the weakest link in your system is your preamp. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Rogue gear, and own the 88 amp myself. But I was not much impressed with the 66 preamp.

If you like the tube warmth, I would recommend trying an Audible Illusions preamp with your setup. If you want something more toneally neutral with PRAT, can't go wrong with a BAT VK-30 (I can say from personal experience that Rogue 88 and BAT VK-30 are a great synergistic match).

Used, either preamp should be well within your budget for cable experiments =).
geoffgarcia OP
92 posts
 
S23, I'm running signalCable biwire shotgun speaker cable at this time.

Thanks for all the opinions!
To be honest everyone I haven't heard enough sound improvement in upgrading electronics/cables to justify going that route any longer.

Rather than try to milk the final 3% potential out of my Tylers I would much rather take the leap with a higher quality speaker.
The reason being that I hear little difference in running my rogue 66/88 + CAL CL15 vs my Denon 1801 receiver and Pioneer dvd player (which cost roughly 1/15 the price in total)

So I'm really stuck on making this a strictly speaker upgrade.
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