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College student stuck w/ bad speakers: advise pls

The more suggestions the better. The used market is only so large, so many I won't be able to try, but thanks in advance for your consideration of me, I truly appreciate it.

First, I'm not a seasoned pro or anything, but I appreciate good audio, especially live and have heard exceptional PA systems from Radiohead live, other bands in Millennium Park, live Chicago symphony, a pretty incredible new sound system inside my wood church (essentially a cathedral), another new system in another new church, etc.

I need a bookshelf speaker for my office to replace the wretched Paradigm Atom V3s I bought. I have an HK3480 and Polk R50s at home. No, the Polks aren't great, but I never said they were. All right, unimpressive right? I set up a MA S2 / Teac stereo for a friend last year and it was pretty incredible sounding to me.

OKOK the Paradigms are decent, but don't image or present a wide soundstage enough. They're way too laid back and I need a forward sound. Should I splurge on the Linn Tukans? I don't care if it's used, but it has to be below $375 shipped. I'm considering Energy RC-10's. Will I be completely disappointed with those? I only have a 30 WPC Teac DR-L700 with some famous Class D amp or something. It's decent and I liked a Teac CRH-227 with Monitor Audio S2s. I really don't think the problem is the amp, the speakers aren't what I'm used to. I could goto Saturday Audio in Chicago some weekend easily, and check out the MA equipment. Please advise. Thank you!

P.S. The speakers need to be able to play Radiohead. Bass doesn't matter as much as realism, soundstage, and imaging.

P.P.S. I'm a little bit skeptical of the laid-back attitude of B&W. Klipsch, Bose, Polk are out of the question. Dynaudio is way out of budget. The rest I can't easily audition here. I may bid on some Linn Tukans or else the Energy RC-10 I can get for $300 with a strong return policy, thoughts?
ferrariguru

Showing 1 response by aball

aball
2,018 posts
 
Man, your description really points to Triangle speakers. Grinnell is right on the money IMO. The Titus and Stella are in your price range, new with warranty, and your 30W amp will love them. The Cometes have a lot more bass but are also around $500 and are much larger.

I have had Monitor Audios, Energies, Paradigms, Epos, Elacs, and Triangles and in general the Triangles are the best of them all IMO. They have a very vibrant character and have image separation and definition like no other in this price range, and yet they are very coherent and melodic. Awesome speakers that will really make Radiohead sing (except for track 2 on Hail to the Thief for which you need a speaker with exceptional bass capability).

Totem Rainmakers are enjoyable but don't have enough treble accuracy for the level of imaging the Triangles are capable of. The only other speakers I have heard that come close are the ERA D4 speakers from Signal Path, which you should also consider but they are not nearly as efficient as the Triangles and I don't think they look nearly as cool either.

Arthur
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