Best used speakers under $10000


All
Here is the type of sound I like:

1. A tad bit warm while still having a lot of punch (nothing muddled about it)
2. Vocals (Diana Krall, John Mayer etc) have a level of cleanliness to it
3. Guitar (Gipsy kings, Jesse cook) sound airy without being lean
4. Speakers can fill a medium to large room (16’x16’x9’) even at modest volume and sitting on my sofa (9 ft away from speakers), I feel engulfed by the sound. Key is even at moderate volume.
5. It may be related to my first point above; forgiving of average source (eg high quality Spotify streaming, which isn’t that high quality after all )

Based on reading a lot of threads on Audiogon I have selected the following
1. Dynaudio Contour 60 - I haven’t listened to Contour 60 but 8 years ago had one of the best listening sessions on C1
2. Focal Sopra 2
3. Vandersteen Quattro Wood CT - though their size won’t pass WAF
4. PMC Twenty5.26
5. ATC SCM40
6. Proac Response D48R
7. Wilson Audio Sabrina
8. KEF Reference 3

From a WAF I want to keep height < 45” and width < 12”.

While outside my budget, I am wondering if I also include Joseph Audio Pearl3 (though very rarely available) and Vandersteen Carbon 5A (size is too large). 


I am currently in an assignment in Sydney and back in NY in Nov. So will be able to audition many of these then. Meanwhile I wanted to get opinions here.
marrduk24

Showing 6 responses by steve59

I got to listen to the focal Kanta 3 yesterday they list for $12k new but sound better than anything else i've heard. obviously different rooms will make a big difference in sound and they appear to need a LOT of room around them. 
It's interesting to me how the speakers I own tend to decide what music I listen to. I did go over budget buying the salon 2 in my quest for $10k speakers. I thought NYC apt's were the entire floor? 
The Kanta's have an immediate sound to them that I really like and I believe they also have some extra energy in the bass, not a bad thing imo. I also ride motorcycles and i'm drawing a parallel between the 2 hobbies that there isn't 1 do it all motorcycle there also isn't 1 do it all speaker. They all have qualities that draw us to them, but in comparison we can't have it all, eventually we have to pick a favorite as there's no wrong answer.
I second the poster that suggested you add the Usher BE10 DMD to the list. rear ported 11" kevlar eaton woofer BE midrange, diamond tweeter I expected bright and boomy and I couldn't have been more wrong. Because speakers tend to sound bad in my room I usually buy used so if,ahem, when they fall on their face at home I can resell them and recover most of my investment, doesn't make the speakers bad because my room sucks, but do try for a home demo b4 handing over the cash. 
The dac is newer in the H360 and it's coming down enough in price to make it worth the extra dough.
Your room will make a big difference in perceived bass. My room sounds lean so a rear ported speaker that I can move around for bass reinforcement offers the best balanced sound where if you have a bass heavy room a front, or bottom ported speaker, sealed like magico or get some transmission lines.