Help me replace ancient speakers - or not


Looking forward to your collective wisdom...

Short version:
Should I replace my 40 year old Allison One speakers with something made within, oh, the last couple of decades??  And can I get something reasonably full-range, that can fit into my small NYC living room, for, say, $2500 or less?  Used is fine. 

Long version:
I've had these Allison Ones for about 10 years, and they replaced Allison Sixes that I purchased new in 1982 or so.  So I've had very similar speaker "sound" for a verrrry long time. 

I've been interested in hi-fi since the 80s but rarely purchase anything new - clearly!  I'm a musician and equipment/hobby money has usually gone to instruments and music instead.  I try to get improvements on a small budget. 

Rest of the system is a NAD C352 integrated (Craigslist find!) with Tara Labs jumpers, a Marantz CD6005 cd player, and an Auralic Aries MIni streamer, the last two running through an Audio GD r2r DAC.  This is all cheapish stuff, but it sounds good in our small apartment, or it does most of the time.  

I'm listening to a Geri Allen trio date with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette, and her piano sounds full and tonally correct, and the bass and drums are balanced and impactful.  There isn't a huge amount of imaging  - Allisons don't really do that - but it all seems pretty correct.  BUT - maybe I'm just used to it?  

Other factors: we like to listen to everything from jazz to opera to poorly-recorded music from all over the world, at realistic volumes.  Scale is important, imaging not so much in my book.  My ears have taken a beating from years of loud gigs so I favor a warm-ish sound, but am open to trying something totally different.  I'm always drawn to the Audio Note rooms at shows, and a pair of AN-E's would be my dream.  Thinking of Klipsch Heresy's too, for some reason.  Gosh, I guess these are pretty ancient designs too.  

Any thoughts welcome and sorry for the novel. 
sforrey

Showing 1 response by audiotroy

We have a few speakers which might really do the trick, we have a few pairs of supeb demo speakers, including a pair of Gershman Sonograms which were $3,800 new selling $2k, warm full bodied great bass, warm tonality, we also have a pair of Gradient Evidence very compact floorstanders amazing sound and will work great in a tiny NYC apartment.

We are easy to reach via Path or Bus from NYC.  Brand new Dali Opticon's are amazing elegant and compact floorstanders.

These are all excellent choices that will do what you want without breaking the bank and they all come with the service and support of a dealer. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ