Audiophile speakers that rock well


I am interested in a monitor sized speaker that does all the audiophile tricks, but can also rock the house without bleeding my ears. Can I get both in a single speaker? I've heard some real good speakers that do vocals, acoutical type music well, but absolutle fail at R & R. Can I have the soundstaging, the imaging, etc.etc. With a speaker that rocks? Budget is $3K

GLR
glrtrgi

Showing 2 responses by knownothing

Dynaudio Contour S1.4
Usher be-718
ATC SCM
Paradigm signature S2

Totem. Mani's used if you can find them for that price
I agree with the posters who suggest the best way to reproduce rock (or full orchestra) music is with larger format speakers that excell at recreating the "scale" of the origninal performance. It is tough to beat the "wall of sound" you get from a good floor stander, and asking a 7" woofer to do work originally created by a 12" driver is probably misguided, but in smaller rooms can at least be approximated. I would add that smaller floor standers don't in my experience go a long way towards improving scale, they just have a little better bass and don't require purchase of a separate stand with perhaps some sacrifice of imaging. Maybe I have been listening to the wrong speakers (Duke?!), but I tend to think you have to go to really big boxes to get the at the "scale thing" described above.

In any case, the original poster wanted Monitor sized speakers, so I have given examples of some modest sized speakers that I think can make a heroic stab at presenting the dynamics and slam of rock while doing other genres in a way that most audiophiles would find at least acceptable - thus meeting the "audiophile" criteria in the original post. My approach was to think of speakers under $3K that I have heard that have a fairly broad envelope and don't get too distressed when driven hard by a good ("audiophile"?) amp. I also thought of companies that make studio monitors, feeling that somewhat more demanding approach bleeds into their consumer products (Dynaudio, ATC, and PMC for that matter).

Another speaker that may not quite have the sophistication (or higher price) of some of these others but I think rocks very well nevertheless is the Revel M22. Relatively strong bass from a stand mounted speaker, and a warmish presentation that evokes a live club atmosphere, at least for me.

Totem Model One Signatures may also fit the bill.