Best Speaker for classical music

I'm happy with my Tannoy 15" DCs

If you are open to something completely different, I suggest that you check out the EARO Eight speakers. These are an active speaker, manufactured in Sweden. I own, have owned and have had the opportunity to hear a number of (what I consider to be) wonderful speakers in my career. But I think the EARO speakers are very special in their ability to accurately reproduce sound, especially large instrumented pieces, without congestion or "lumping" of the individual notes.

Frankly, this line is under-represented in the U.S. and while they have been demo'd at several shows, they are still pretty much unknown. There have been a couple of very positive reviews, including this one: Positve Feedback Review of the EARO Eight

Disclaimer - I have done some consulting work in the past for EARO and their U.S. distributor. I have no financial interest in the line, but I am very familiar with these speakers can recommend them without hesitation or exception.

Br3098 , I like horns and horn loaded speakers but active speakers with class D amps? That's a complete turnoff for me. I simply have never heard a class D amp that I could even accept as midifi, and I've heard a lot of them at many different price points. There are many suitable applications but imo its not for high end audio.

Dkarmeli,

Personally, I usually try to avoid commenting on audio components I have never heard, let alone (probably) never heard of. But I understand your hesitation - I had similar doubts and questions for the designer, Mikael Richel, when I first heard these speakers at the Newport Show in 2011. And as good as they sounded to me, I was convinced that they would sound better with Class A SS or maybe SET amplification. I was wrong.

Mike is a very talented and knowledgeable audio designer, and who has worked with some companies in Europe who are on the cutting edge of audio technology. He has designed the speakers and selected the components to produce the best possible sound.

I know, talk is cheap. It is not my place or my intention to get into a lengthy technical discussion and further hijack this thread. You can go here if you want to read more about the technical details regarding the EARO speakers and their design philosophy: EARO Technical Information.

I still remember the old commercial that proclaimed "I used to hate it, till I ate it!"

In addition to the others mentioned (particularly Shahinian and Wilson), I'd add the larger Duntech and Dunlavy speakers, depending on the size of your room. Nearfield Acoustics Pipedreams also sound great with classical music. These latter three will give you a big sound that helps the power of large orchestral music, like the Sceanas do. I'll also put in a plug for the Nola Reference speakers (as you go up the line, the bigger the room they can fill); as a former Duntech owner, I find them to be very satisfying.

A lot of this does depend on your electronics and the size of your room. I would never suggest Duntech Sovereigns in a 15 by 12 foot room, for example, or an inefficient speaker if you use SETs. Can you give us some guidance?