Certainly lots of choices in the is price range, but my shortlist would definitely include the KEF LS-50, especially at their new improved $999 price. That even leaves a cool $1000 subwoofer budget. 180 degrees away, Magneplanar .7s offer size, speed, and transparency that no cone-based speaker can offer in this price range. And kinda/sorta in between, the GoldenEar Model 5 and Model 7 have more than a little street cred. I mention these because the each represent a pinnacle of engineering, execution, and sound quality in their type and budget: mini-monitor, planar, and small floor-standing tower.
Best bookshelf speakers
I’m building my first high fi system after being more of a portable audio person. I want to start with the speakers. Space is limited so bookshelf speakers are a must.
Preferences:
Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth.
Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows
Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz
But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music
Smaller is better but SQ is most important
A speaker that sounds good with different amps but also scalable with high quality sources
Wide sweet spot - I wont have money for a great amp at first but want them to be scalable for later
These speakers have caught my eyes - any thoughts on them?
Ascend Sierra 2s - Ribbon = dispersion limitations?
BMR Philharmonitor - See above. Also massive.
Buchardt S400/S300 - Wary of the sudden hype train and limited info
Silverline Minuet Grande - Limited info
Reference 3A De Capo - This caught my eye as a potential endgame speaker if I could blow up my budget a little. But concerns about BE tweeter as well as some potential snake oil stuff (cryogenic treatment (!?)), exaggerated sensitivity claims and wonky measurements put me off.
What else should I be looking at?
Edit: I could have sworn I had <$2,000 in the title... Anyway, my budget is 2k.
Preferences:
Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth.
Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows
Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz
But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music
Smaller is better but SQ is most important
A speaker that sounds good with different amps but also scalable with high quality sources
Wide sweet spot - I wont have money for a great amp at first but want them to be scalable for later
These speakers have caught my eyes - any thoughts on them?
Ascend Sierra 2s - Ribbon = dispersion limitations?
BMR Philharmonitor - See above. Also massive.
Buchardt S400/S300 - Wary of the sudden hype train and limited info
Silverline Minuet Grande - Limited info
Reference 3A De Capo - This caught my eye as a potential endgame speaker if I could blow up my budget a little. But concerns about BE tweeter as well as some potential snake oil stuff (cryogenic treatment (!?)), exaggerated sensitivity claims and wonky measurements put me off.
What else should I be looking at?
Edit: I could have sworn I had <$2,000 in the title... Anyway, my budget is 2k.
174 responses Add your response
| Post removed |
Granted, I am a Harbeth fanboy, but I think you should give the Harbeth P3esr speakers a listen. In your price range, I also like the KEF LS50s, but I think if you can pony up a few $100 more, the Harbeths will meet all your requirements. Note: the P3esr speakers start to attenuate at 75hz, but don’t pay any attention to that and just listen to them. I ended up adding a sub (two is better), but they really don’t need them. If you end up with the Harbeths, you’ll probably end up buying a sub or two down the road (I love spending other people's money)! |
Not sure what to do. They're ok. My receiver doesn't have enough power. But after playing them on a new Denon 8500 via my local best buy magnolia room and, it was about the same only louder. Clear but not very bright. Mads was cool and says to keep breaking them in so I am. But I think I ruined myself by playing them side by side with the B&W 707 S2's while in that magnolia room. So much clearer on the high's. I really wanted/hoped the S400's would have outdone them |
I've got a pair of Totem Rainmakers and I've really enjoy listening to them. A solid stand filled with sand is a must, and they sound amazing! Non-fatiguing, smooth, transparent, play low, wide soundstage, etc... - and they don't cost an arm and a leg! I am running them with a tube preamp and a SS amp which I find to be a good combination. I've heard good things about the SVS Ultras which you can find online under $1K. |
Five speakers have piqued my curiosity after wasting way too much time on this. Buchardt S400 Silverline Minuet Grand Philharmonic BMR Fritz Carrera 7 BE (going for 2800 now) Xavian Perla Exclusive The Fritz and BMRs seem to have the most and most reliable user impressions around them but the latter is half the price of the former. Silverline has a great brand reputation but not much user feedback on the Grands. |
@mrfungi - looking forward to your impressions. There’s not much info on them online and I’m always a little suspicious of over the top early buzz on a product. But that return policy covers you. As of now, I’m leaning heavily towards the Philharmonic BMRs. I can’t order until next month when I move so I still have some time to deliberate but those look like the best value proposition right now if you can convince yourself to get over the large size. The guy makes them at barely over the cost of the parts, according to several reviewers. |
Stuff Jones, Sounds like we're at about the same stage. I bought the S400's and they just arrived so haven't gotten to listen to them just yet. Great experience so far. Good luck on your journey putting together a system you can enjoy for years to come. Such a subjective thing (what sounds good). And so many variables and idiosyncrasies to everyone's listening environment. The S400's piqued my interest because of the reviews and I'm expecting they will hold their own against other speakers of similar price/category. They'll be playing in the local Best Buy Magnolia room along side the ML, DT and B&W speakers so I'll have some sense of that pretty quickly. I figure the big names started out as the little guys making good speakers with a compelling value proposition in their segment. That's what I hope Buchardt is producing and what I bought into. Good luck :-) |
| Post removed |
| Post removed |
recently purchased a demo pair of Monitor Audio Gold 100 for less than $2k. They are outstanding speakers in my opinion. I listen to a lot of acoustic music especially jazz. Not certain how they would sound in book case because they are rear ported. I listen to mine on Monitor Audio stands made for these speakers. |
Taaw your arguement is totally flawed you don't think that a Chinese made product from a company that has built their own factory, has designed ever part together and has the financial resources to spend hundres of thousands to millions of dollars can't make a better speaker than a guy in a garage using off the shelf parts? It has nothing to do with margins, those companies can afford to build a product a much lower cost because they can produce in huge volumes which drives costs down which enables them to have money for marketing, service and support. Listen to the Quad S or Z series monitors they will totally shock you for the level of sound quality for the dollar and Quad builds everything in house that includes the drivers, crossovers, cabinets even the binding posts are made by Quad. You may have heard some big companies products that you didn't like but the reality is still the same, you just may not have heard a product from another big company that might have blown you away. Go listen to the Quads they are incredible so incredible that they have been winning speaker of the year in Europe for the last few years and the new Kef R series are also rather good. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
I think folks who have not heard well designed single driver speakers say that. Not sure what you consider complex music. I listen to a wide variety of music, including jazz (small groups, not Big Band), Americana, alt and classic rock, the full range of classical (solo piano to string quartets to concertos and symphonies) and very few times felt that the Omegas were struggling.(sounding a bit congested). That was when I really cranked up the volume LOUD. The Omega's produce quite a startle on Starvinsky's Rite of Spring! If you are willing to give their 30 day return policy a try, and let them break in fully, you will be very pleasantly surprised and completely satisfied - their midrange and timbre are hard to beat, especially at their price! I think the youtube demo is trying to show how fantastic they sound with small combo's and the human voice, and not because they can't handle more complex music. |
@ihor I looked at the Omegas - I love the idea of simplicity and midrange purity. But I heard the single driver struggles with more complex music - is that true? Just a general observation - why are speaker demos usually done with really simple music? Like this, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1LFGvRtPlw |
Given the range of costs of the speakers you mention and especially your preferences: " Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth. Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music Smaller is better but SQ is most important" Seriously take a look at the Omega Super Alnico Monitor. Midrange is just beautiful; timbre is outstanding - acoustic music (including jazz) is wonderfully rendered; not the deepest bass but more than enough (enough to enjoy a Mahler symphony or the National). Slightly bigger than your other choices, but in the ballpark of the choices you listed. I selected these over Harbeth 30.1s after some lengthy, in home, auditioning. Includes a 30-day money back guarantee, thoughts of which completely vanished once the speakers adequately broken in. These replaced my Spendor BC-1s and Spendor s5e. https://omegaloudspeakers.com/collections/monitor-speakers/products/super-alnico-monitor?variant=321... |
So I didn't hear much if any mention on Usher, Spendor, Vienna,or Totem. Some very good stuff there. But so much depends on the electronics you have with them. Currently auditioning a set of Boxers (Nola) myself. Such a difference from the KEF 350s which have their strengths and weaknesses. About to switch power sources though which will change the game yet some more. Might be best to audition a set up unless you love the adventure of upgrading and researching and testing. Then by all means buy one thing at a time. But enjoy the process don't let it become a drag or whats the point. I love the auditioning part so maybe in 10 years I will have what I want, but not likely. (insert smiley face here) |
I think I'm going to actually go much cheaper than the 2k I put in this thread. In looking at speakers <2k range it seemed like I needed to spend a little more to get something that I wouldn't regret later. Something like the Trenner and Friedl or Fritz. And then I would have to upgrade my electronics purchase to be well matched with my more expensive speakers and then my overall budget would be blown up. And then I wouldn't enjoy my purchases because I'd be hyper critical having spent so much - at least that's what happened when I ventured into top of the line IEMs and DAPs. So it looks I'll try the Silverline Minuet Supreme Plus. They look like the most balanced very small speaker under 1k. Then I'm thinking of pairing it with Spark Audio Vista and the very capable (with IEMs at least) LH Geekout V2A DAC. On paper at least that should get me capable sound at around 1k which I won't agonize over (until/unless upgrade-itis strikes). Obviously the Supreme Plus' will have their bass limitations, but its a lot easier to swallow those compromises at 700 than 1700. Any reason to expect that the Supreme Plus' and Vista won't be a good pairing? |
tinear123 you are missing one cool additonal trick, with the LS 50 wireless . Which is you can add a subwoofer. If you add a subwoofer to the LS 50w they sound even better and fill up a large room even better. The new Kef Kube 10 and 12 are very good sounding woofers and are dirt cheap at $599 and $699 respectively and they make a nice match with the LS 50 making a state of the art streaming/self amplified loudspeaker subwoofer package for $3k! The powered loudspeaker market is heating up with the new Elac model, the Dynaudio xeo, and the Dali Kalisto Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Kef, Elac, Dali dealers |
@ whoopycat
Trenner & Friedl look amazing ( and sounds amazing in this demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5R4Eplg1z4) @ 2y2ret - Thanks, I hadn't seen those and they look really good. Nice and small too and well within my budget. |
Martin Logan's Motion 35XT's have treated me well. The folded motion tweeter of the XT sometimes errs on the bright side, but the Motion series has been versatile for music and movies. You can audition the series in the Magnolia room at Best Buy and compare the XT with the non XTs in the series. The Motion 15 (or 16) also works well for a small room, and you could move them to the rear surround sound if you later decided to upgrade speakers or move to a bigger room. In my case, the 35XT now serve as rears after I purchased floorstanding speakers...(They are probably a little overkill for rears in my medium sized entertainment room). |
For me, the KEF LS50 top end was better than my prior Revel Salon 1 (MSRP $20K). I am never selling the LS50. In a small room or second system it is superb. Another small room speaker that I owned and is pretty good is the Audience 1+1 V3. You cannot put it on a bookshelf but it works well in a small room (dipole design). |