Help with Speaker Selection

Used Magnepans fit this bill quite well IMHO. They sound their absolute best in very large rooms where they can be pulled far away from the front wall. Their inherent dipolar dispersion sound pattern typically gives extra "life" and "ambience" to the recording, particularly if you are using older - lesser top flight electronics driving them (a point source speaker does nothing to add these ambient and spatial cues that older electronics are more often than not seem to be woefully lacking). And best of all, if you shop carefully and don't love the sound of the Magnepans you will have the ability to flip them back on Audiogon to another member for darn near what you paid for them!

I would recommend you look at some of the large dynamic speakers on Audiogon. If you want recent models there is a Focal/JM labs 918 for $1800 or a Dynaudio Contour T2.5 for $i995. This speaker listed for $4495 and the other for around $4000. Among older models I would look at KEF and B&W. Large speakers have quadrupled in price in the last 15 years and you can get speakers whose successors are now in the 8 to ten K$ range very reasonably. The KEF 107/2 was the top of the range and cost $5000 twenty years ago , there is one listed for $1550. It is still a very good speaker. There are various B&W 804s and 802 models for $1095 and up. Just sold was a KEF Reference 203 for $1500. I would have bought that one myself if I could have thought of any creditable excuse to give my wife as I already have 7 pairs, not counting 4 pairs of subs. All of the speakers would benefit from newer amps but could be used with your equipment to the best of my knowledge. I am certain about the B&Ws and KEFs. Look up reviews for any that interest you on the net.

I would have bought that one myself if I could have thought of any creditable excuse to give my wife as I already have 7 pairs, not counting 4 pairs of subs.

Stanval you killed me!!!!

I am sort of in the same situation, but as a MC guy, I have three 6.1 rigs and several patrs of speakers....

Vintage tannoys are wonderful speakers.

Altec model 19

For that size of room...BIGGER is better !
Especially the woofer , you need to move a lot of air and multiple small bass drivers (todays small footprint designs ) probably won't cut it .
Look for a speaker with at least a 10 inch woofer , 12 - 16 inches would be better . Anything smaller will definitly require the use of a subwoofer or two .

Of course the type of music listened to , how loud and the listening position distance from the speakers will make a difference also .

Good luck .

You guys are great, thanks for the feedback. Curious what you would say regarding the equipment I'd be using to drive whatever I purchase, what this equipment would lack in sound quality against new electronics in the $3k-$6 range.

BTW, I used to have a pair of Duntech Crown Prince's with this system, and they sounded great, but sold them many years ago.

Klipsch Cornwalls will do the trick. Might even be able to find a pair of Klipschorns near your price range.

Your Nak equipment was good back in the day but any new equipment will be far better.

In regard to your question about your equipment, it will sound a bit dry and/or sterile, less expansive and a little hard (especially throughout the upper registers) without nearly as much "air" or "bloom" in the midrange and soundstage regions as current rate equipment comparably. This is why I suggested the Magnepans. Speakers like this which radiate from both the front and rear (called "dipolar") will always add "bloom", "air" and a sense of space (due to their rear out of phase additional sounds coming from the rear of the speaker) really helps compensate for some lacking sonic attributes of lesser (read older) electronics - particularly solid state.

In regard to Ehider comment I believe that the Magnepans , like the Quads, are bipolar rather than dipolar. That is , their forward and backward radiation is IN phase rather than OUT of phase as in a dipolar. A cursory internet search supports this.

Forget the model 19 too many of you are buying driving price up so now no more Altec suggestions;)