Looking for "realistic" speakers


I just had my pair of Cary Audio Silver Oak speakers get fried along with the rest of my Cary gear in some kind of power surge (sniff sniff). And absolutely loved the Silver Oaks because they just made everything sound authentic.

The instruments had the right timbre, scale, the balance was just right, and aside for perhaps a touch of richness had no character of their own. This made them sound great for any type of music.

I can't afford the $8K I spent in the day to replace so am looking for something closer to $2K-$3K max (used Ok). I'm looking less for something with super trick staging, imaging and some of the other high end niceties (though I wouldn't kick them out of bed).

More for a musical speaker that just makes the music musical and the presentation realistic sounding. That makes you forget you're listening to speakers/electronics and hearing the music the way it should sound.

Easy to say, I know.

My preamps and amps are solid state Cary stuff that will be replaced by insurance though sadly the Silver Oaks are no longer made.

Any ideas?
larrybou

Showing 2 responses by mechans

Get a Cary tube amp set up and your speakers will sound more life like.... but that's a whole new can of worms, sorry couldn't resist.
I would buy the speakers I liked best if close enough to be "affordable" perhaps more than the $5K. I think that you should build the rest of the system around the speakers you selected (-eventually). What sources are you considering and which amp/s have you been thinking about? You'll save a lot if you go with an integrated- at least for now.