Intimate, warm and holographic alternative

Room treatment is required to achieve your stated desire : " intimate and holographic sound with great scene"  Without treatment you could find yourself on the downward spiral of endlessly changing speakers. After finding a warm and less offensive speaker you may then decide to add some treatment and now find the chosen speaker is lacking detail and a bit dull, so back to searching for another speaker.

I have witnessed the above scenario with friends. I have visited them with my mic. and computer, measured the room, (it's easy - the computer does it) and shown them the horrible performance of their room. Occasionally they agree to experiment with dragging a couple of mattresses into the listening room and then remeasure and see and hear the difference which usually amazes all in the room. Using broad-band absorption in the correct places works a lot better than a mattress and avoids someone bored with your sound from taking a snooze on said mattress.

A few posters have suggested speakers that 'do not need subs'  I disagree. Perhaps these guys have never heard the benefit of a sub or subs properly set up. Apart from improving bass it improves the entire spectrum. Plenty of reports on how this is possible on the net.

Wilsons... as far up the line as you can afford starting in your room with Yvette.  
Consider used.  Reasonably efficient, world class sound.

Buy nothing you haven't heard.  Enjoy the selection process.

Go for your very first list: Gershman. It is particularly good for acoustic jazz, voice, and orchestral music. True to the real sound.The only catch is it is 87dB and you would need a very clean powerful amp to drive the speakers. Such amps can be hard to find at under 5k.
I’m driving my Gershman with Plinius SA102. 

Thanks so much to everyone for all the information and comments. 

I´m not surprised that there are few coincidences in the suggested speakers (hahaha).

Yes, as many of you said, it´s absolutely necessary to hear the speakers "in person". The problem: I live in a region with no specific audio commerces and, also, many of the brands in which I´m interested have no distribution on my country. In most cases also, an offical distributor doesn´t guarantees that they are going to have in stock speakers to hear them, beacuse with specific models they only work on request.

Consequently, the comments and suggestions of the people in this forum are so important to me (experts advices from people with many speakers "on his shoulders").

Let´s talk about my room. It´s a big space of 41 square meters (if I´m not mistaken they are 441,33 square feet aprox.). The speakers are at 13 feet between each other and they are at 2 feet from the wall. The sofa is at 12 feet from the speakers aprox. This is my actual room. No specific treatment. Is a rented home so I´m not going (I can´t) make any change. In two years I´ll go to a new home. The dimensions of the new "audio space" will be similar or even bigger.

My budget: yes, they are differences on many of the speakers that I´m looking for. I don´t think that necessarily more money is going to guarantee me better sound. 30.000,00 is my probably budget but I´m not close to other options (of more or less money).

What I´m lookig for: dynamic sound, holographic experience, warm sound (I´m not closed to neutral fidelity but I don´t want fatigue and "in your face sound"), deep bass (but I don´t want independent subs) and good speakers at low level volumes (does it mean efficient speakers??).

Possibilities (or technologies) that doesn´t convince me at all (I´m not closed to anything and I´m not an expert): horns and electrostatic. Horns speakers, in many cases, are described as holographic (the sensation of been part of the concert) but the nasal sound could be a problem. Electrostatic speakers on the other hand are incredible on the holographic experience but they have two big problems: they are not the most dynamics and the bass is poor (as I said, I don´t want independent subs; yes Martin Logan have speakers with subs incorporated but the bass seems to not go at the same time of the rest of frequencies). 

Let´s talk now about omnidirectional speakers. I always was impressed by MBL. When you talk about holographic sound always appears this brand (and omnidirectional technology). My doubst: the bass (another time) seems to be incapable and, also, I don´t know if it´s a must separate the spekers from the wall a lot, because the sound is a 360 degrees sound and if you have a wall very near (like in my case) it could be a problem. I don´t know.

Some options that I´m looking too. The DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O´96. I talked with John. He told me that "they are planning a new Orangutan model, but it will not replace the O/96, it will be a higher model. We will still make the O/96". Maybe could be a great option.

Tannoy seems to be an alternative but I don´t have any experience with them.

On the other hand we have Legacy Audio or Gershman. 

At last Vandersteen. Another brand that always appears when you talk about holographic sound.

As you can see I´m really losted (hahah) so any suggestion would be helpful. 

Thank so much

You have a good size room and say you might be moving to an even bigger room so I mention again Volti.  Standard box speakers can not sound like these. Their top speaker is basically a modernised Altec Voice Of The Theatre.

These speakers will follow you from house to house even if your listening space  doubles in size.

https://voltiaudio.com/https://www.stereophile.com/content/volti-audio-rival-loudspeakerhttps://voltiaudio.com/reviews-articles/https://www.monoandstereo.com/2014/03/volti-audio-vittora-speakers.html

Did you mention what you have for a system and what you are most familiar with?

Make sure you check out any of the Classic Audio Loudspeakers field coil variants.


After spending a few years listening to different speakers, going to audio shows in Europe and in the United States, this type of speaker, field coil drivers, and specifically, the T1.5 Reference is the one that captured my emotion the most. It is so easy to recommend speakers, but harder to actually listen to many. I traveled to many places to listen to a variety of speakers over a period of years to search for a candidate to be the one. But none of these other speakers pleased me as much the way the T1.5s field coil speaker does. Not to say that some of these other speakers were bad, because some are considered world class; however, none of the other speakers gave me the "Call of the Wild" sound and feel that I was craving, despite, their great reviews and many recommendations. It just seemed as if something was missing. This is truly an individual experience as not all will feel the same about speakers I passed over, nor, will they feel the same about Classic Audio Loudspeakers.  

Big, yes, but, compared to other speakers, the greatness that these speakers provide, you soon will turn off the lights, close the doors, and get carried away to the recording venue or stage. Oh yeah, these speakers give me great sound; and exceptional upper frequency, midrange, and bass quality. With the high efficiency and dynamic analogous, non sub powered way in which the T1.5 portrays music, you are lulled into an enchanting evening with any musician you select.

Just be forewarned, the ability of these speakers to cast voices into the room will literally make you shake your head in disbelief as I have due to the uncanny and realistic presentation. You are offered a live performance at whatever venue the recording was made. That is how I feel in my custom designed room and with my system.


This is not an easy journey you are on. Spend the time to listen with your ears and achieve the benchmarks that are your special requirements for your next speakers. Been there done that. Good luck. 👍

Duevel Bella Luna: high efficiency, valve friendly and omnidirectional 2 way with very clean imaging

Thanks so much to everyone for all the information and comments.

I´m not surprised that there are few coincidences in the suggested speakers (hahaha).

Yes, as many of you said, it´s absolutely necessary to hear the speakers "in person". The problem: I live in a region with no specific audio commerces and, also, many of the brands in which I´m interested have no distribution on my country. In most cases also, an offical distributor doesn´t guarantees that they are going to have in stock speakers to hear them, beacuse with specific models they only work on request.

Consequently, the comments and suggestions of the people in this forum are so important to me (experts advices from people with many speakers "on his shoulders").

Let´s talk about my room. It´s a big space of 41 square meters (if I´m not mistaken they are 441,33 square feet aprox.). The speakers are at 13 feet between each other and they are at 2 feet from the wall. The sofa is at 12 feet from the speakers aprox. This is my actual room. No specific treatment. Is a rented home so I´m not going (I can´t) make any change. In two years I´ll go to a new home. The dimensions of the new "audio space" will be similar or even bigger.

My budget: yes, they are differences on many of the speakers that I´m looking for. I don´t think that necessarily more money is going to guarantee me better sound. 30.000,00 is my probably budget but I´m not close to other options (of more or less money).

What I´m lookig for: dynamic sound, holographic experience, warm sound (I´m not closed to neutral fidelity but I don´t want fatigue and "in your face sound"), deep bass (but I don´t want independent subs) and good speakers at low level volumes (does it mean efficient speakers??).

Possibilities (or technologies) that doesn´t convince me at all (I´m not closed to anything and I´m not an expert): horns and electrostatic. Horns speakers, in many cases, are described as holographic (the sensation of been part of the concert) but the nasal sound could be a problem. Electrostatic speakers on the other hand are incredible on the holographic experience but they have two big problems: they are not the most dynamics and the bass is poor (as I said, I don´t want independent subs; yes Martin Logan have speakers with subs incorporated but the bass seems to not go at the same time of the rest of frequencies).

Let´s talk now about omnidirectional speakers. I always was impressed by MBL. When you talk about holographic sound always appears this brand (and omnidirectional technology). My doubst: the bass (another time) seems to be incapable and, also, I don´t know if it´s a must separate the spekers from the wall a lot, because the sound is a 360 degrees sound and if you have a wall very near (like in my case) it could be a problem. I don´t know.

Some options that I´m looking too. The DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O´96. I talked with John. He told me that "they are planning a new Orangutan model, but it will not replace the O/96, it will be a higher model. We will still make the O/96". Maybe could be a great option.

Tannoy seems to be an alternative but I don´t have any experience with them.

On the other hand we have Legacy Audio or Gershman.

At last Vandersteen. Another brand that always appears when you talk about holographic sound.

As you can see I´m really losted (hahah) so any suggestion would be helpful.

Thank so much

Well well.. So did you decide smth finally?

I’ve been buying and selling used speakers so I can listen to the most recommended in my room with my gear. The problem is taking a chance on smaller brands with small marketing budgets can be harder to resell if they don’t workout. Have fun with it. 

You say your room is 41 squares, are you sure that is correct? That's 380 square meters. Your room is more than twice the size of my 3 bedroom house. Your room is a warehouse (haha). And you sit only 3 meters away from the speakers? Does the sound quality matter throughout the room or only at listening position? What is in the room?

8,2 m. X 5 m. = 41 square meters.