Buy a Harley instead...You'll thank me later...
I had a pair of Monitor Audio GS 10’s which were fine till I bought my ASR amplifier. The amp proved to be too much for the GS10 bookshelves. It was like a Tanzanian devil trying to break out of a small box. Then I pushed them too hard and blew out a woofer and tweeter which was an easy fix, as I just ordered replacements and installed them. So I ended up selling them to someone who was putting together a Rega system and the Monitor Audios worked really well in that scenario. The overall tone of these Monitor Audio speakers was good but I thought it was lacking a little in detail. Shortly after, Monitor Audio released their GR series, which they claimed to be an improvement. Then a couple years after that, they released their Platinum speakers and though I never heard those, the reviews for those were excellent. Anyway, I believe Monitor Audio has made improvements to their speakers over the years and would be worth auditioning but have a feeling that there are many others that would offer more within that price bracket. |
Dynaudio! My Contour 20i’s sound amazing with my Audionet electronics. I replaced Revel Salon 2’s on a lark and never looked back. I love the Contour 20i’s so much I have Confidence 20’s on the way to replace them. The 20i’s used with stands for under 4k are a great value. The Parasound amp is good, but I think a bit dark sounding to me. |
Atalante 3 monitors, designed by the guy who headed the team that designed the Dynaudio Contour 20. You'll save over half going for the Atalante 3. All the best, |
The Dynaudio didn't sound bright to me at all so don't know what the other commenter is referring too.
The Gold 100G actually has pretty good balance of tone just with some thinness that I heard during demo with Samara Joy's music and she doesn't have a thin vocal presentation. Like the heft and body was a bit lean. Outside of that, overall balance was acceptable.
Also your 706 S3 don't lose their brightness. You got used to it cos they're annoyingly brittle sounding whilst also lacking snap and pop to drum hits, brass instruments. It's like they sound muffled and harsh at the same time.
Any speaker you get will sound less contrasty to begin with and you may not like that compared to your 706 S3's more coloured presentation @spoonman16510 |
I currently have a pair of B&W 706 S3 bookshelf speakers and those were considerably "bright " until they were good and broken in; about 100 hrs, but since then they have toned down quite a bit. I really have no way of auditioning either of these because I don't live anywhere near a dealer(s). So you're saying that the Dynaudios retained their brightness? Even after owning them for as long as you have? |
I have owned the Contour 20i's for 2 years, and I love them. But they are right at the edge of having a bit too much treble energy. The Heritage and Black Editions, both of which use the Esotar 3 tweeter, might push the treble too far, so I would definitely audition before purchasing. The same goes for the Monitor Audios. Lastly, the Blacks have 10Hz less bass extension compared to the 20s (50hz vs 39hz), so you might ask yourself if you're ok spending 8k on speakers that could possibly sound lightweight... I personally really need full output below 50hz. If you are interested in Dynaudios, I think I would hear the 20i's as well compared to the Monitor Audios...you very well might prefer them more. |