Raidho, Scansonic, Perlisten, and Borresen come to mind. I’ve not heard any of them though and I don’t know what you’re looking for other than form factor. If you give more information on the sound you’re interested in there are lots of people around here who can help you narrow down your search. At your price range you should really go listen to anything that piques your interest.
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Audiovector R3 Arrete is what I have. Baffle is about 7” wide. Msrp is half your budget. $12,900. Custom colors are an option. Any paint you want. I went to audition QLN Prestige 3, which are not wide by any means, but not the very slimmest. I’d also look into audio physic. I’ve not had a chance to hear their newest driver technology, though. good luck. |
I would recommend the Wilson Benesch speaker line...The great thing about them or should I say one of the great things is there use of carbon fiber cabinets which dramatically reduce the back resonance of the drivers and convert it to a very high frequency which allows them to be placed closer to a back wall without the booming bass of many many speakers I have heard. Great midrange, very full sounding with a 7" driver. check em out. wilson-benesch.com |
Dutch & Dutch 8c, Yes it's a standmount, but a complete system: smartspeaker, powered, with a streamer, DAC and room correction. And it is a three-way. About $16K. A living room system ought to sound good but also not be obvious and certainly not dominate the space. Linn Series 5. Active towers with their own subs. They have a music server--the Majik DSM. The combination will be within your budget. I will chance the ire of this board by suggesting B&O Beolab 28 actives. If you want a small footprint, I don't think you will find anything less obtrusive unless you go in-wall/in-ceiling.
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Sonner speakers. These speakers win awards as one of the best rooms At audio shows. IN CRAPPY HOTEL ROOMS! Think of how good they will sound at home regardless of using tube or solid state gear. Make sure to buy the stands for the bookshelf speakers because they do help the sound quite a bit. I think it’s like $14k-$16k for their top speaker and stand. I listened to these speakers at Axpona ‘24. There was a classical conductor in the room. He listened to a few tracks he picked off the iPad app. He said after he finished listening that the sound is as close to real as you can get. If I did not already purchase my Revel Studio 2 speakers the Sonner speakers would be my choice. |
The Speakers shown from the Brand in the Link have models that should meet the criteria for the Cabinet Dimension being requested. The models are when looking at user reports suggesting these designs are abletp punch way above their asking price. I have heard the Celeste in a very well known System where Quad ESL's are resident, and the story that is unfolding is that the TOTR Quad models are being used much less now the Celeste has been discovered. The Celeste were purchased for a Low Watt Output Amp' used in a Second System. They are now edging their way to permanent use in the main system. |
@yyzsantabarbara "KEF Blade 2 Meta. Forget that BestBuy sells it too. This is one of the very best. The soundstage is the best I have ever heard, except live. The tech and research KEF put into the Blades is unlike most competitors." Absolutely agree but for a little less, the KEF Reference series dazzles. I prefer the smallest Reference 1 but they all have the same concentric tweeter / midrange with varying numbers of bass drivers. The only dynamic speakers I have heard that compete with my Quad ESL-2905 electrostatics with the bonus that they can play much louder. There is a 40+ page white-paper that gives the underlying science |
Check out the Linkwitz website: https://linkwitz.store/category/lxspeakers/ I have both, the LX521.4 and the Sirius. They are mindbogglingly good! The 521.4 just won the 2025 Editor's Choice award from TAS. The smaller Sirius should fit your description well: it produces a wide soundstage and accurate placement of instruments and singers. It would be ideal for a Jazz aficionado. And both are well in your price range with $$ to spare for a nice cartridge. |
+1 @cdc GoldenEar |
Boenicke W8: Diminutive size, narrow footprint, big sound - including bass. When I heard them at an audio show, I kept looking around the room for a large floorstander. These little guys completely filled the space. |
https://speakerchoices.com/index.html sort by dimensions |
I own both the Abscisse Jubilee and the Bliss Jubilee. As you go up the line from the Cantabiles you go from the soft dome tweeter which is in the Bliss, Eutrope and Cantabile to the AMT tweeter. You also go to taller cabinets with larger drivers and better bass response. The change in tweeter takes to me the sound from the old school Reynaud sound to a more detailed and neutral presentation. Nothing wrong in either and I enjoy both but you may favor one over the other. I have a friend who has owned both the Abscisse Jubilee and the Voce Grande and he preferred the VG which I haven't heard. He did admit that to him the VG had slightly less bass weight but better imaging. I've owned six pairs of Reynaud's over the last 20+ years. |
Do you want narrow baffle or narrow width? Assuming the latter, you get great sound out of the Spendor A1's. Height 308mm (12.1 in.) You can mount them on stands so that you are not labeled as having bookshelf speakers. 😉 Just amazing sound. Both accurate and an endless pleasure. |
I second the recommendation to try to listen to the Boenicke W8 series of soeakers. I recently purchased the W8SE's. I think the SE's are the sweet spot in their three tiers for each model. They are small floorstanders and are pretty fabulous. They excel with vocals/mid range instumentals and have a very clean top end without sounding brittle. I'd say their low end is nice and tight but if there is one area they could use a bit of help it's there. I have a sub to fill out that need and I could not be more pleased (except a new dac with decent interconnects could maybe please me a bit more). And they produce an astonishing soundstage, which never ceases to amaze me given their small footprint. Basically they sound and look beautiful. Note they are supposed to be fairly current hungry and I've got them hooked up to a Hegel H390 which was on sale due to the incoming H400 which replaces it and was a deal too good to pass on. The Boenicke's are an exceptional bit of audio gear. Highly recommended. Enjoy all the demos and good luck with your search. |