Audiophile speakers that rock well

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.

klipsch

B&W......any of the 800 matrix or newer is the reason I choose them is that you can throw anything at them and not feel short changed. 801 matrix are a classic speaker but the nautilus don't break up in the mids at almost to loud volume it has a better mid driver and crossover.

A Zu Soul Superfly takes up only 1 square foot of floor space and is only 39" tall. It takes up no more, and sometimes less, space than monitors on proper stands.

It scales to stadium rock and full symphonic music on 20 - 40w, but can handle a mega-amp if you want to go that route. 30Hz bass rounds out the rock potential but the rock potential in no way compromises its abilities throughout the full tour of music genre. $2600 direct.

Phil

Being a die-hard rock and roller with some heavy metal thrown in, the speakers that have consistently delivered the R&R goods have been both the Acarian Systems LTD. Alon 1's, the Alon Lotus SE mk ll series and the Accent Speaker Technologies Nola Viper 1A's.

The Alon 1's are scary good at rock and roll and in a properly treated and sized room offer outstanding dynamics with a huge 3D soundstage and would be well worth seeking out a used pair. One does need to do their homework in amp/cable matching. A good/solid 30-50 WPC tube amp is the ticket here especially those that use EL34's as the output tubes. There is a synergy here that brings a strat or fender guitar right into the room and they can hit hard with well recorded material. Try Judas Priest "Hell bent for Leather" :-)

I've found the Alon series also have a musical synergy with MIT2 bi-wire speaker cables and take them up a few notch's when implemented, even over the stock Acarian Black Orpheus bi-wire cables. Bigger soundstage, deeper/tighter bass and sweet, sweet highs are on tap.

Combine the MIT cables with the above mentioned tube amp topology, along with the properly treated/sized room, and you'll lose sleep... I did and don't regret one minute.

Cheers