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Excellent Speakers for Classical Music - $2,000 USD Budget

Hello All...I am primarily a classical music listener, leaning more towards solo piano, symphony/orchestral, and chamber music. I have a Rotel A14 integrated amp in which I plan to add mono amplifiers to at some point in the future. I let a pair of B&W 804 Nautilus Speakers slip through my fingers recently. There is a B&W 804 Matrix set for sale near me, but don’t know if the Nautilus are better than the Matrix. So, I let a good pair slip through my fingers. But, it got me to thinking...Are there any other brands that I should consider besides B&W? I had in mind to audition Magenpan and Martin Logan electrostatics. Seeing that I only want to spend around $2,000, does anyone have any ideas?

In my office, I use Adam A7x nearfield monitors with ribbon tweeters, and for headphones, I love my Sennheiser 800S’. I like a nice detailed, clear, and forward sound. Would another ribbon tweeter floor standing set do it for me? Electrostats the way to go?

Looking forward to your suggestions.
dfwbach

Showing 6 responses by jjss49

jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
If you found the Harbeth is a warm sounding speaker, a Spendor would sure not be the speaker for you! I have owned many of both brands and the Spendor is a warmer sounding speaker than the Harbeth!

yogi is not wrong on this statement, but spendor’s product line is bifurcated... the standmount 'classic' series is warmer (old school bbc lossy cabinet design)... floorstanding 'd' series (d7 d9) is a much modern hifi sound (rigid cabinets etc etc) ... i would say that newer harbeths pretty much fall in the middle of the two spendor lines
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
Everyone owes it to themselves to own a set of Magnepans at least once.


i agree with this... what maggies can do, in the right situations, is very special

but there are also significant flaws and issues/challenges as well

no dedicated audiophile should go through a lifetime without owning maggies and quad esl's....
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
But the regret does.


man if i lived on the east coast i would be there in a jiff with a hifi bud and big suv to get those sweetheart 9/1’s... they are monsters though, certainly a challenge to handle and move around without knicking the lovely cabinets - i guess being a floorstander they can be ’walked’ around more easily than a large hundred pound standmount!
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
op will learn -- you snooze you waffle you worry about audition

cherry used gear, universally beloved, at good price... doesn’t last
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649742043-spendor-sp91-floor-stand-speakers/

^^^ these would be absolutely wonderful ^^^

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649643178-spendor-fl10-speakers/
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa733i-proac-dt8-floorstanding-speakers-full-range
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa96da-proac-response-2-5-full-range
https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649747501-devore-fidelity-gibbon-88/

^^^ any of these would be quite good but not nearly as good as the 9/1’s ^^^
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
op

for very nice re-creation of orchestral music try an older spendor or harbeth model that fits your room - fritz makes some very nice monitors as well

your rotel amp is a little lean and bright, best to go with speakers that have some innate warmth

the brands you mention - b&w martin logan are all known to be rather bright, so unless you want your music to have quite accentuated highs, you should stay away from those - most classical lovers like more balanced speakers with more warmth and body

magnepans can be very balanced but you will need better amplification and patience with placement
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