You have good amplification, that helps. And this list is fine, you will always get other suggestions in an open forum.
What are your listening habits? Genre preference? Typical volume levels? Are you a hard core rocker or jazz and acoustic? And room size, that makes a difference as well.
I am confused. Who said something inexpensive cannot sound good? I certainly did not. A Honda Civic is a great car, and I sure can't afford one. I said nothing about price.
Check out the reviews for Revival Audio Atalanta 3 monitors. Even better, try to get a listen if you can find someone who has them within driving distance.
I've had them for a couple years now and won't part with them, unless I get a bigger space. I'll then move up the line to the Atalante 5.
Absolutely NONE of the above...
Speakers I personally consider worth owning that I have actually heard extensively:
ProAc ( Response D2D/DB 1/DB3 & Tablette Anniversaries )
Harbeth (M30.1/30.2Xd)
Spendor Classic (any current production from 3/1 up)
Sonus Faber ( too many to list )
Dynaudio (too many to list )
and those I have not had a chance to demo but would buy unheard if the right chance came up:
Reference3A De Capo but with the available silk tweeters & Spendor D7.2........
IF you need to buy unheard,the Harbeth M30.1 or M30.2Xd is an A 99.9% SURE THING WINNER ( about $2750.00-$3500.00 )!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Especially considering the price range OP has laid out: from 2.1k to 7k.
There are others at these price point but these are the one I could find where there are favorable reviews on the web.
Right. I understand that. If you don't have brick & mortar availability, you have to start somewhere. That's what I did, but now I may be suffering a bit of buyer's remorse. What will you be driving them with? That would at least give you an idea if you would be locked into certain specs.
There seem to be two parts to the 888 forgivingness recipe that I can suggest. First, it sounds like the initial part of transients is slightly overdamped. You may have heard horn speakers that do the opposite: you get the sense on rims shots or trumpet blasts that there is overshoot and the sound is spikey or piercing. The 888 is slightly softened, but, again, not dull.
Are certain speakers in your price range omitted on purpose. I see the SVS but not the MoFi 888’s, or Klipsch Cornwall IV’s. And of course at the risk of getting stoned by the crowd, Tekton. I was looking in the sub $5K range and wanted a big speaker to pair with 180wpc tube amps, and can’t afford Fyne, or Tannoy’s. But for me I wanted a fun musical speaker Vs something too analytical . Cheers , Mike B.
I have the KEF R7 Meta (the R11's were to big for my room) and am very pleased with them. The R11's were reviewed by Hi-fi News magazine and scored very well, in the high 80's, if I remember correctly. Well worth the audition.
KEF first, Polk second. Your choices are all mass market brands, you might do a little more digging and see f there are some other brands that appeal to you. Amplification, musical preferences and typical volume levels matter as well. Some speakers can be hard to drive and really won’t show their true selves without the right amplifier.
@andy2, MD has a pair of open box Focal N3 3 way floor standers marked down from $1299 each to $799 each, and if I was in the market I would be interested in giving them a spin. (Actually, I am kind of in the market, but at the moment I am hanging on to my $.)
As far as the choices you did list, I am not familiar with them, but now, if it was me, what I would be interested in would be a sensitivity of above 90 and a nominal 8 ohm impedance that didn’t dip too low (and I am not sure how low "too low" is yet).
But I suppose a lot depends upon what you are going to be driving them with.
Again, if it was me, this time around I think I MIGHT be looking for a soft dome speaker (and the Focals I just listed are NOT that). I am really intrigued by what I have read on this site about the Volti Razz (which is a horn tweeter) (which I think might make it within the upper price limits of the parameters you listed) and I think that is what I may be saving my own nickels and times to try out.
As far as the B&Ws (you listed), B&W generally does not get a lot of love here. I recently "upgraded" from my ancient B&W 805 Matrixes, and I actually loved them until I didn’t. I’d suggest auditioning the ones that you can audition in your home with your system.
I would pick the KEF R11 Meta, and find them used. The R line was well reviewed, and like all KEF models, quickly becomes a good buy on the used market. The Q not so much. SVS makes ok subs. B and W are tipped up at the high end. And of course choose for yourself!
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