Full circle and thinking about speakers


This all started a couple of months ago by buying a pair of old B&W DM305 speakers and i'm completely new to all of this..
Then a  Rogue Cronus, Nottingham TT w/ a Lyra Cart. Waiting for an EAR phono stage to arrive Monday.
On the digital side - a Pro-ject streamer and Schitt DAC (place holder but it all sounds very decent).
So now I'm back to the speakers, cables and interconnects. I would like something at a level with the other gear - not that the B&W's are bad, they just aren't great.
What I like about the B&W's: clear detailed and focused.
What I don't like: At times the highs are glaringly high and when I expect there to be gobs of bass, there just isn't any to speak of. Jazz trios and quartets sound pretty awesome.  Rock not as good.
Condo life, which means my listening level is on the low side. Wall moving bass is probably not what I am looking for.
Listening space: The room is 14' x 25' and I haven't settled on which direction to arrange speakers. Currently they are projecting across the 14' width. That may very well change.
Any recommendations of where to start the search are highly welcomed. Speaker types, specs etc...as I know very little.
Let's say under 2K and used is fine if it gets me to a higher level.
Thanks  all
smaarch1

Showing 1 response by realworldaudio

Listen to @millercarbon, he has great advice. I have an easy task, just echo what he said... I also have the 92dB cutoff, and arrived there arbitrarily by myself. Go lower, and your amp selection to drive those sleepy buggers gets reduced, so you can choose between bad choices and very bad choices. (BTW plenty of good low sensitivity speakers out there, but the amps to drive them are well above the budget). Indeed, beyond 95dB you will need not worry about amp power, and you have the flea power kingdom wide open for you - esp with the condo living situation. Also, it is much easier to find a tonally right tube amp, than a tonally right solid state amp. (I have found exactly 1 tonally right SS amp so far... after 20 years of searching - but that's me, you might have different preferences, but as I hear, you are struggling with tonality, and it's not just the speakers but the amps as well that contribute to the situation).
Paradox with B&W: their best speakers I heard was the DM301 (or was it 302? their smallest bookshelf model, 20 years ago). Not the ultimate in resolution and low end response, but MUCH MUCH better tonality than any of the bigger models. (Incidentally one of the top 10 worst sounds I ever head was the Nautilus... crushed my dreams, as at that time I thought the Nautilus should be the ultimate speaker.) So, apart from the little model, I never heard a B&W that played balanced music.