Building a second, vinyl focused system. Speaker advice needed! (<$10k)


Hi folks, I'm in the early stages of planning a second system that is going to be nearly dedicated to vinyl playback. I realized recently that when I listen to music, it  is hardly ever through streaming, I'm almost always spinning something from my vinyl collection. I'm also trying to take a longer term view by planning to save (for an extended period of time) to actually buy an endgame system. In this post, I'd like help putting together a shortlist of speakers to research and demo. Obviously the ratio between the universe of all speakers vs what I can feasibly try is very high, so please leave me some breadcrumbs that I can follow up on and help narrow it down as much as possible! With that said let me walk through my priorities.

  • I am definitely looking for full range speakers. I could also be persuaded to add a subwoofer if it's really needed (e.g. for electronic music) but would vastly prefer a two channel system, especially at this price point.

  • Immersive, holographic soundstage and imaging. This is usually what tickles my ears the most when I think back to the best listening experiences I've had.

  • Lifelike, engaging, and fun musical presentation. Obviously I appreciate pure fidelity to a degree, but some of the most boring speakers I've ever heard measure "perfectly flat." At this point in my journey, I value a fun experience over 100% truthfulness.

  • Non-fatiguing treble and overall sound (no shoutiness). Not to pick on them but I've heard several Klipsch models that I would call shouty and it's a quality that I really disliked. Maybe that's all horn speakers, idk.

  • Tight, controlled, and accurate bass (not wooly or boomy). Also as with the shouty treble, wooly and fuzzy bass just takes me out of the experience entirely. I usually attribute this sound to older speakers from the 70s.

  • Excellent microdynamics and ability to reveal musical “texture," especially in electronic music, think albums like Jan Jelinek's "Loop Finding Jazz Records" with lots of pops, clicks, and quick transients.

  • Strong performance at both low and high volumes. I listen at night a lot and still want a good experience without disturbing others. The speaker shouldn't get congested at higher volumes though since I do like to play em loud as well.

  • Excels with jazz (especially live combo recordings), classical, and detailed electronic music. I listen to a lot of live jazz combo recordings so imaging and timbre are very important here. My litmus test is whether Scott LaFaro's bass on "Live at The Village Vanguard" actually sounds real or not.

  • Real wood, furniture grade cabinetry. I really value speakers as pieces of functional furniture that should blend in with a space as much as a couch or a table. This is a bit more subjective, but I'm looking for something that fits the aesthetic of my home, being a mix of Scandinavian and MCM, clean lines, natural wood, nothing overly ornate. I think this rules out speakers like GoldenEar that have more of a home theatre aesthetic (no hate, I've heard this speaker and it rocks).

  • Should play nicely with tube amplification as that is what I am planning for this system. I have a lot to learn about amp and tube matching so I'll probably be back with this as a separate question. I imagine these speakers will be fairly high sensitivity with good nominal impedance figures.

  • Budget of around $10k, since I'll be saving for a while, I want something with serious staying power. Will consider used options too.

My current system is a pair of Dynaudio Contour 20 stand mounts, driven by a Parasound HINT6. I really love these speakers but the lack of deep bass, low volume performance, and low sensitivity make them a poor match for this system, so they'll be added to a home theatre setup in the future. What I do love about them is they are totally non-fatiguing to listen to and strike a nice balance between analytical and laid back listening. This is a quality that I'd also like to retain. I'm happy to answer other questions y'all might have but this is getting a bit long winded at this point, so I'll cut myself off. Thank you for the advice!

primarist

Wow, how time flies by. In weeks since I posted this, I've been on international travel, moved apartments, and am only just starting to feel settled in. Anyways, I wanted to hop in here so that I could respond to all of these fantastic suggestions and keep this from becoming another "dead thread."

 

First off I'll say that while I'm sure Tektons sound incredible, there is literally zero percent chance I can sneak those into my living room past my girlfriend. I know, tale as old as time, but its very valid.

 

Second, and this is where the meat of my post is, thanks to @g2the2nd's suggestion, I looked into Volti audio and learned that Greg's workshop is not far from my house! I wound up swinging by to demo a pair of his Razz speakers and wound up staying for a little under 4 hours. One word is: WOW. I'll come out and admit it, I was totally mistaken about horn speakers. From my earlier Klipsch experience, I was expecting, as my post alludes to, a "cupped hand" sound in the upper midrange. Intuitively I guess this makes sense since every horn we're used to hearing in "normal" life sounds like this. Megaphones, announcement speakers, cheap PA systems, a horn shape should sound horn-like, right? 

Well, Greg's speakers left me with egg on my face and my jaw on the floor. Not only did they not exhibit any of the shoutiness that I was expecting, but they presented some of the most lifelike and effortless midrange I have ever heard in a speaker. I think effortless is probably the best descriptor I could use to describe both the Razz and Lucera, which I wound up spending a couple hours with as well. This quality was especially apparent at lower volumes and during off-axis listening, where the speakers' characters continued to shine through. With the volume cranked, neither speaker showed any signs of congestion or confusion, though the Lucera's bass loaded the room better than the Razz seemed to. Imaging and soundstage were truly difficult to describe, with instruments actually jumping out from behind the listening position. This was the first time I have ever experienced this effect from a speaker in my life and it was impressive to say the least.

Honestly, I'm now pining after a pair of the Luceras after this demo and it easily sticks in my mind as one of the top hi-fi experiences I've ever had, saying nothing of Greg's hospitality, which was top notch. If nothing else was achieved, I at least have a greatly changed perception of what a well-tuned horn speaker can sound like and will definitely be considering them going forward in my hi-fi journey.

 

Okay, phew, back to other speakers then. @medium_grade, have you heard the Omegas? The Super Alnico XRS (with a pair of matching subs) was a possibility that I identified early on but was worried about (1) the lack of a crossover and (2) whether the 6.5" drivers would be able to output the clean, deep bass that I would prefer for my electronic music. I'm not sure why the lack of a crossover concerns me, maybe it shouldn't, I've just never heard of a speaker without one before. I also know I was just terribly spoiled by listening to the 15" woofer on the Volti Luceras so how unreasonable is it for me to expect similar bass performance from a smaller speaker?

 

To all others: I am definitely still Devore, ProAc, and Audio Note curious.

 

 

This is a thread with a lot of very good suggestions.  The Volti speakers seem to tick most boxes, including the right looks.  Their cabinets are superb.  Although plain looking, the Audi Note speakers should be in the running, particularly if you desire placing the speakers close to the back and side walls.  I like Tekton, Devore and ProAc speakers a lot too; all can be used with modestly powered tube amps.

While they may not fit your looks profile, PureAudioProject speakers sound fantastic—large and immersive sound field, alive and engaging, and well balanced tonally (not the deepest bass, but decent for open baffle speakers.  They do bedt with a lot of room behind them.

I find Vandersteens do a good job in almost all aspects, but sound just a bit too blah in dynamics (not lively).

I forgot to mention how unusual and good is the recommendation of the Indian speaker Rethm—they are extremely lively and engaging.  The looks are a touch odd, but they are worth looking into.