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
Hesson11, although I firmly believe your problem is largely in electronics or sources, I would strongly recommend the Reference 3A Grand Veenas. They are quite accurate in the top end thanks to the Murata supertweeters. If they sound shrill, it is something upstream that is the problem.
Spendor SP 1/2E. You should be able to get a good condition used pair for 2K.

Pro: they produce very accurate tone and frequency response. They are well and rightly recognized for this quality - a classic loudspeaker.

Con: they don't have very good bass or excellent dynamics. One famous review rightly described them as being "polite".
The best I listened Sonus faber guarniere(not memento), I sold my pair , but just now I and two friends were talkin about ths aspectof SF guarniere, it is the best speaker to play cords!
I love what my Vandersteen 3a signatures do for string sounds. Gorgeous, but...what is your front end? I know that this is controversial, but they couldn't do what they do without a turntable, the latter being the #1 most incredible improvement in massed string sound, including replacing the air around not only the instruments, but also the string choirs. It's amazing. I've gone back to vinyl after 20 years of CD. I have a VPI Scoutmaster but I've also found such string magic even from a Technics TT.
Thanks so much to all of you for your thoughtful responses. I will definitely take them into consideration. A few of you have addressed some good points not strictly related to speaker brands, and I have either addressed or considered them. And yes indeed, Jdaniel13, I do love my vinyl (via an Oracle Paris table). Thanks again, I really appreciate it.
-Bob