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Looking for more detail in a speaker

Kind of a long first post but needed the space to set up my situation. 
I decided to do something about my speaker situation after demoing a pair of B&W 805d’s. One of the tracks played was Sympathy for the Devil. At the beginning of the song, a percussion instrument, either a guiro or cabasa, just popped out at me on the left speaker. I’ve heard that song a million times but never noticed that percussion instrument coming at me like that. I came home and played the track through my system, through my streamer and turntable. My speakers are Golden Ear Triton One’s. That same presentation just isn’t there like with those 805’s.
The GET1’s are certainly decent speakers; are they not designed for this type of detailed presentation? Is it my room? My listening room is a odd shaped man attic with a 3.5’ wall on one side with an 8’ wall on the other side peaking a 9’ in the middle. My listening position is about 17’ from the speakers.  I’m sure the room is acoustically challenged. Also, I have a long speaker wire run, like 40’. Does that contribute to the lack of detail? I figured out a way to trim about 15’ of speaker wire length from each run and plan to do that ASAP. I’m using AudioQuest construction rated wire. I believe they’re 14 gauge.
So, why not buy the 805’s? I’ve thought seriously about them but concerned they’ll be kind of small for my room. Seems like I need floor standers. I’d like to keep any replacement speakers at $4k. I have an opportunity to pick up a pair of Dynaudio S5.4s for $4k but haven’t made a move in them yet. 
Any suggestions on a speaker selection or adjustments to my room or speaker wire are appreciated. To sum it up, I’m looking for more instrument detail with good sound staging either by making tweaks to my current set up or getting another flavor of speakers. Thx. 
bfoura

Showing 1 response by jhills

jhills
619 posts
 
For detail and imaging, without the harshness I've heard with some of the titanium tweeter speakers I've auditioned, for the price I've not found anything even close to the price that sound as full musical and detailed, nor with as large and well placed stage as the Maggies. Unlike what some have said, in my set up, my little 1.7s are not head in a vice directional at all. In fact the imaging, instruments and vocals stay in place in the space they belong, regardless of where the listener sets or stands. It all has to do with how you set them up. Even a fraction of an inch can make a difference. 

I agree with others - regardless of what you settle on, the cables need to be as short as possible and your seating position much closer. With my Maggies and with most other speakers, is about 120% of the distance between the speakers. Say, if center to center distance between speakers is 8' then ideal seating distance from the front of speakers would be between nine and ten ft. - just my 2 cents

 Best of luck....Jim
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