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Is There a Speaker for Me/Impossible Requirements? (budget: $2000)

Well, I just lost a very long and detailed post. Here’s my second shot:
After years in headphone purgatory I’m finally dipping a toe into ’real’ hifi. Turns out, its not as straightforward as I expected.
My equipment: 320-lossless files into a Moon i-5 in a 9 1/2 x 11 1/2’ room with 7’4" ceilings and a large rug. No issues or concerns regarding acoustics nor any interest in treating. Listen at 60-90 db for 3-8 hours a day- music is all over the map but a strong preference for neo-classical/ambient (Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, Jonsi and Alex, etc), baroque/solo piano, fingerstyle guitar, and ’indie’ (whatever that means nowadays).

After reading a whole lot I purchased the following speakers based on my headphone preferences (HD650):
Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniv: VERY forward, VERY mid-centric, and not at all for me. They seem to have the veil people associate with the Senns, though I’ve never experienced it myself.
Spendor S3/5: These are much more interesting. Imaging is amazing- they do seem to disappear completely on certain tracks. However, the sound is rather unexciting. Perhaps this is closer to neutral but I find the speakers end up falling into the background and don’t really pull me in to the music. Tonally, the 3/5 seems very coherent though the lack of visceral bass is quite evident.
Spendor SP-1: The best of the bunch to my ears. The imaging is maybe a little behind the 3/5 but the sound seems much more balanced with more bass presence. On some songs they sound a bit U-shaped (maybe a little ’thin’ vs the ’non-present’ 3/5) and not quite as unified (lack of mids?) as the other Spendor.

My hope is to find a speaker I can keep for a long time that fits my listening space and music preferences. Given my experience where would you head from here:
A) Keep the SP-1s and spend more time placing them within my space/experimenting with stands and/or upstream gear?
B) Get a sub for the S3/5 and compare against the SP-1 again?
C) Try for another speaker altogether? If so, my max budget would be $2000 with a preference for value. I do have a pair of Meadowlark Kestrels on their way to me, but I haven’t heard them yet. Harbeth, Totem, ProAc, Vandersteen, Ohm, and Revel all sound interesting to me.
Grateful for any thoughts,
NM
joincoolkidclub

Showing 1 response by pdwoods

pdwoods's avatar
pdwoods
3 posts
 
Hello,
I had a budget of $5,000.00 for speakers and bought a pair of Revel and then a pair of
I was, after 100 hour break-in period, comparing them to Polk A9s.....both sounded inferior
to  the Polks believe it or not....both of the $5,000. speakers lacked an acceptable presence 
in the mid-range and just acceptable in the low frequencies.
The message here is don't be seduced by high prices....I would still buy a speaker pair for $5,000.00 if demonstrably superior to the Polks.  I was just tired of moving 80 lb+ speakers
around.
I was fooled as well by listening to speakers at the dealer....all speakers will sound different in the home.
A friend suggested a pair of higher end FOCALs $6,500.00...I may give those an audition 
someday.
Good Luck,
David Woodruff


 
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