Best speakers for Classical music under 10k used

You have a lot of options if you're willing to spend $10k, but there are unfortunately few speakers costing less than $20k that can reproduce full-scale orchestral music without compression.

Assuming you have a large room and a powerful solid-state amp to drive them, I would suggest Vienna Acoustic Mahlers. I own Mahlers and Revel Salons, and listen to a lot of orchestral music. Like the big Sonus Fabers, the Mahlers have a warmth that gives body and life to stringed instruments and voices. They image really well and have an unusually wide and deep soundstage, which contributes to the realistic protrayal of a large orchestra spread out on a stage. They also have enormous dynamic range due to their use of two 7" midranges drivers (the same midrange drivers used in the Wilson Maxx II) and two 10" woofers. I actually prefer the Mahlers in many ways to my Salons, which are twice the price (the Mahlers cost $10k new and $4k-$5k used). Their name, "Mahler", was deliberately chosen and sums up their classical music abilities quite well.

If you are interested in learning more about the Mahlers, I suggest that you read the Anthony Cordesman review for Audio and Robert Deutsch review for Stereophile that are found on the website of Vienna Acoustics' U.S. distributor, Sumiko (www.sumikoaudio.net). Both reviews are accurate and confirm my experience with the speakers.

Matti:

I have never run either the Salons or Mahlers with really high wattage solid-state amps, so I have never been able to find their dynamic ceiling. My guess is that the Salons have a slightly higher dynamic ceiling, because they use fourth-order crossovers. I also know a dealer who claimed to have heard the Salons run with 1,200 watt/channel McIntosh monoblocks and said that they can play at unbelievably loud levels. The Mahlers can go really loud, too, by virtue of having a lot of large-diameter drivers, but my guess is that compression would set in earlier with them than it would with Salons, as they use first-order crossovers (the result being that the drivers "bleed over" into the territory covered by the other drivers, i.e., also operate outside of their optimal frequency ranges). That said, when Audio reviewed the Mahlers, their measurements indicated that distortion components with the speakers played at 100 db. SPL were all well below 1%, even in the low bass. In any event, unless you like to play music at rock concert levels at all times, my guess is that the Salons and Mahlers both have all of the headroom you would likely need.

As for sensitivity, the Mahlers are 89 db. efficient, while the Salons are 86 db. efficient. In practical terms, this means the Salons require twice the wattage to produce the same loudness levels of the Mahlers. Bear in mind, however, that both speakers drop to below 3 Ohms in the bass, ruling out all but a handful of tube amps -- they require high-current solid-state amps to sound right in the bass.

The Salons and Mahlers are both fine full-range speakers. The Salons go a bit lower in the bass, and are definitely more neutral. The Mahlers image better with their first-order crossovers and have more slam, but are very picky when it comes to amplifiers, speaker cables and listening rooms, and have a midrange warmth that not everyone will like. Assuming they are used properly (high quality solid-state amp, careful choice of speaker cables, big listening room with speakers well away from rear and side walls), my opinion is that Mahlers are very high value at $10k the pair.