Jazz-suited speakers for an Arcam amp?


With a new baby in the house a few months from crawling, I am going to floorstanders from my current B&W 602 s3's with sub (coming soon to a "classified" near you). Figuring I can do better used than new, I am trying narrow what I should consider. But since I can't really audition used equipment, I hope to rely on current owners'/listener's input.

I have an Arcam AVR200 integrated and a Music Hall mmf-7. I also have a pre-historic Panasonic changer that I hope to update sometime soon. I am running Kimber 8PR bi-wire cables for now. Most of my listening is Jazz/soul, so plenty of vocals, piano, horns, and bass. I'm not real clear on the terminology the serious folks here use, but I like a natural sound, as if the performance were live; not smoothed or accentuated (warm or bright?). I will not run a sub until I set up a full HT system, so I would like something that can go low. Max limit is $1500.

After reading around, I have pretty much gotten it to Soliloquy 5.3's
Von Scweikert VR2's
Tyler Freedom's (new) or Linbrook (Used).

I am leaning hard toward the Von's. It's a beautiful speaker, great reviews on the sound - especially the bass - and loaded with shot or sand, it sounds like it would be pretty difficult for a toddler (or clumsy addult) to knock over.

All input welcome and appreciated.
jeromedny

Showing 1 response by tlh28

Hi,

My recommendation would be very different. Spendor or Harbeth. Neither will play as low as the speakers you mention, but both will have truer tonal accuracy and better low level resolution IMO. I've never heard any other speakers that do jazz as well as Spendors, and I love jazz. Don't have as much experience with Harbeth, but I suspect that Harbeths would give Spendors a good contest with jazz recordings.

TLH