Great bookshelf or small towers suggestions

Thx!  I heard the Guarnari and Best Buy and just loved it.  But $7K was just too crazy!  

Are the Cremona's the predecessor?  Or are they more related to the lower end lines like the olympica or venere?

BTW, I don't necessarily need tiny speakers.   The existing speakers are 23x11x12 and are on stands that are 12" high.   thx!!

thx - who's your dealer?  I'm in NYC.

In my floor plan link they kind of look closer than the actual speakers currently are. They're ~14" from the wall at present.  The TV isn't wall mounted and a low sanus media cabinet is there holding the tv and all of the gear.  So nothing needs to go directly against the wall.  But it can't come out much further.

Ah, - it was the Olympica I model not Guarnari that I heard in Best Buy. They were about $7K and did sound amazing. The sales guy was completely enamored with them in comparison to the 805D3.

Used Cremonas? Hmmm.  Where to even look other than ebay?

Thanks! I get what you’re saying. I have an NAD 516 CD player and a Rega 2 turntable with an NAD preamp.

I’ve enjoyed the 300’s for many years. They’re spiked and do sound good. They seem to be in perfect shape and I’m the only owner. And I found a center that matches them on ebay last year.

Maybe I’m just tired of them, but what I notice is listening in direct mode stereo 2 channel just isn’t as satisfying as when I turn on the surround speakers and use various music modes. And what becomes glaringly obvious is that these little spherical Orbs and Gallos that I have for sides and rears add more mids and highs and music just sounds better.  (but not great)

On top of that just using it all in media mode when watching TV, the center and fronts just don’t have much sparkle and pop and I find myself cranking the volume so we can understand the dialog. It gets super annoying.

I’ve thought about just upgrading the center, but I think the mains do leave a bit to be desired too.

I’ve toyed with every setting on the receiver and at this point no longer use audissey and have just a few tweaks for dialog and set the speaker levels by ear. I really wish there was a better EQ in the receiver - maybe for each speaker. I’ve tried using the EQ but it gets disabled when you use various other features.

I thought about replacing the marantz but I really don’t want to go crazy with expensive separate components. I’m not a huge fan of messing with equipment. I’m kind of a set and forget guy. And I just wouldn’t know where to start.

-Bill

Thx all. 

One has to start upgrading somewhere and for me the speakers seem to make sense as a starting point. They're almost 20 yrs old and I know their sound well. I'd certainly like to keep well below my budget if I can. Since I need LR and a center channel it won't be cheap no matter what. I also don't want to get on the upgrade merry go round.  I'll probably die with whatever I get. (I live in a 5th floor walkup! So when they carry me out, they can take the speakers too.)

There's nothing particularly substandard about the CD player or turntable. And the AV sources are what they are these days: Apple TV and the Cable box.   The receiver might not be the best but it doesn't seem to be a bad one.   I'll upgrade it eventually when the inevitable must have AV feature pushes me to.

I am looking into various speakers you've all recommended.  The Sierra 2's or perhaps the towers seem interesting as do many of the others.  But not being able to hear them first is a problem.  So I am thinking of looking for something used but that I've already heard or can find nearby, like the Sonus Faber's. 

The speakers don't need to be tiny.  The 300ti's on stands are taller and wider than many floor standing towers.  But being a small apartment, if they don't need to be big that would be great.

Thx

I've been very interested in the Sierras.  I just wish I could hear a pair here in NYC.   That said, based on what I've read, if I was going to take a risk on something i haven't heard yet, they'd be at the front of the list.

I don't think I can fit the Sierra Horizon center in my setup though.  Just too big.  Would have to use a sierra 1 or 2.

I'm going to start to hit the stores for demos soon.

I did like the Focal 714's. I heard them next to the magnepan .7's and various golden ears (which I didn't like) and they sounded good - great for the money.  I will give them more of a listen. I'm not sure what the diff is between the 714 and 716 other than for some reason the smaller speakers are more expensive though.  

The wavetouch looks interesting. But it seems to be very directional and living space wise, I'd rather have something that has a narrow sweet spot.

which regas do you have?  People seem to rave about them.  What are you looking to improve?

Thx!

That's some review.  But they are waaay to big.  Thx 

I'm not a big fan of sub woofer systems.  But they do look interesting.  Thx

I didn't care much for any of the low to mid level Golden Ear speakers I heard at Lyric Audio.  The Triton 1 was Ok but too  expensive and large for me. The Magnapan and Focal 714 were far better sounding for what I was after.  Given that the magnepan won't fit and I'm on the fence about the Focal's I'm still looking at things that compare to the B&W 805D3 and am interested in various ribbon tweeter speakers.  Just haven't been able to get to hear any yet.

I just don't think I'm that adventurous yet. I just can't see buying something I couldn't hear first.  It is a cool idea though and I admire the DIY ethos. Although I have come close to just taking the plunge on the ascend towers.

I've been shying away from used speakers too.  I owned a pair of used Mordaunt Short speakers and blew a tweeter.  It took 6 months to get the person I bought them from to make a warranty claim for me to replace them..

I did audition a few things. I got a chance to go to Innovative Audio and heard Linn Majik 140's, and 3 different Spendor two ways.  (D1, A3, one fo the classic bookshelves)

The Linn's sounded the best but were too big.  I'd be interested in hearing the Linn bookshelf 109's but they sold their demo pair.  The Spendor towers were 2nd best - lots of bass.  I was very impressed by the two way speakers overall.  

But so far I really didn't hear anything that had the bright high end of the Magnepans or the 805D3's I recall hearing. 

I need to go back there and hear a few more speakers: PMC and hopefully the Linn 109's.  Then I need to try a few other places.

Thx

The PMC twenty 23's are what he wants me to hear next as well as a large stand mounted pmc that I guess is the 22? 

I'll pm you too.

Thanks!! 

Odd - I can't figure out how to PM you.   Maybe I don't have enough posts or something?   Anyway, I'd be interested in that dealer if you wouldn't mind.   wolfereeno @ gmail.

Thx!!

I really don't know yet.  I need to do a lot more listening.  Next up for me to go hear are a few PMC's, a Linn bookshelf, and then I'll have to go to another dealer to hear other things like the B&W 805's and Focals again.  I live in NYC so there are a lot of dealers. 

But I tell you I keep coming close to just buying ascend towers with the ribbon tweeters or maybe the Sierra 2's because really, I just hate the hunt and I like what I've read!

Maybe this hobby's not in my bones.  Probably whatever I buy I'll get used to!  :-)

Heard a few more good speakers this weekend. Dynaudio Excite X18, Dynaudio Contour S1.4, Spendor SP3, and Rega RX3 (or maybe Rx5?).

I liked the Excite X18 a lot. Not a ton of bass but amazing imaging.   The Contour had a lot more bass and almost the same imaging.  Overall it did sound better than the X18 but not by much to me.  I didn't care for the Rega's much - and the side speaker might be strange in my layout since one side of the room has an open side wall.

I was surprised by the Spendors since I'd heard them before and did not like them at all the first time.   Of course different room, different equip but both stores are top shelf so odds are one setup wasn't particularly inferior.  I might have to hear them again in the first store again.   

The good news was that there are a lot of small speakers that really sound great.   And having smaller speakers than my sound dynamics would be nice for living purposes.

But what's kind of bugging me is that the stores don't really do the A/B speaker switching thing with the high end gear.  So you hear things 10 minutes apart.  And frankly that doesn't work unless something's glaringly  obvious, which at this level of gear isn't all that apparent. 

So I'm thinking maybe just taking an in home trial of one of the ID speakers makes sense so I can live with them a bit.  I think more dealers would be wise to try to meet that convenience.  

Anyway, I have a few more speakers on my list to hear.  PMC, a few more Dynaudios, Linn 109, and if none blow me away, I'll just take a chance on something mail order and try to get used to them.  If that's the case it would prob be the ascend sierra 2's or towers.

Yeah. Thx but not interested in subs at all.  Sux for neighbors in an apt and usually not necessary w halfway decent mains.  Just my opinion.  

Bache, do you have a showroom/workshop I could hear your speakers?  Thx!