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Classical speakers that do violins well??

All my serious listening is classical.

I hate nothing more than steely shrillness on violins or a glare on a soprano's voice.

I love nothing more than the faithful reproduction of the tone colors of unamplified instruments (the wood body of the violin and cello, the felt pad excting the sinewy strings of a piano).

YET, I hate bloated, indistinct, overly warm, billowy lower mids and upper bass (what I gather some think of as "musical").

Do you have any experience with speakers that might meet these needs for $2K, give or take (new or used)? Can be either floorstander or monitor, but with at least enough bass to perform decently on orchestral music. THANKS.
-Bob
hesson11

Showing 3 responses by audiokinesis

audiokinesis
2,755 posts
 
If you are able to accomodate them, I think Maggie 1.6's would do what you are asking for. In my opinion Aragons and Maggies are an excellent combination.

Duke
audiokinesis
2,755 posts
 
Pubul57, the 1.6 would indeed sound very nice on strings and most things. There is of course some trade-off, and I think you probably nailed it - they don't dig down real deep. On the other hand, their pitch definition in the lower registers is superb. They have a natural enough tonal balance that imho they do not "need" a subwoofer. What the Maggies have is a broad, gentle, even subtle dip in the upper midrange/lower treble region that psychoacoustically balances out lack of very deep bass. That being said, restoring the missing deep bass is benefical as long as it's done unobtrusively.

Blending subwoofers with a dipole is a challenge, and one that I have done some work on. If you'd like more information shoot me an e-mail, as I don't want to hijack the thread.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer
audiokinesis
2,755 posts
 
Mrtennis,

You may be right - come to think of it I measured the dip on the 3.6, not the 1.6. It was subtle, averaging maybe 1 dB or so.

Overall though, my impression of the 1.6 is different from yours for whatever reason.

Have you tried adding "wings" to your 1.6? That would extend their bottom end and warm them up a bit. You could do a test run with cardboard wings. Also if you use a resistor on the tweeter, I suggest something higher quality than the sandcasts the factory provides.

If Hesson11 is willing to change amps, the original Quad ESL would be my suggestion.

Duke
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