Most "Musical" speakers

SunnyJim,
Why do most people think that the high price tag will produce the best speaker? There are plenty of "musical" speakers out there under the $500 range that will embarrass the higher price stickers! I know, I have owned a few. Vandersteen, Logan, Revel, B&W, Sonus Faber, Totem, and the list goes on. Unfortunately I have had the cursed upgrade disease! I have had this audio disease for about 15 years. My biggest speaker regret has been a pair of Polk Audio speakers that I purchased at a second hand store, the model number escapes me, but the speakers were tremendouse sounding in their imagaging and soundstage. I sold them in pursuit of something in a higher price range that didn't even come close to the sound they had, even though I tried to convince myself to justify the purchase. If you are looking for a great musical speaker that will hold it's own with the "big boys", try a pair of Epos ES14 speakers and you will be dumbfounded at the music these little guys produce. Good luck in your pusuit...
Michael

I always liked the Revel F30 in that price range.

Musical and accurate should be the same thing, since an accurate speaker (one with a flat smooth response) will not cause listener fatigue and hence will be more "musical". The Vandy 3A Sig is an accurate speaker, it's only "forgiving" in the sense that it doesn't hype up the upper mids like so many "ruthlessly revealing" speakers do.

Vandersteen 3A Signatures are the winner here in my book. The Maggies and Von Schweikert are also very good

Maggie 3.6/R. A true music lover´s speaker.

After a 20 year search my ACI Jaguar-Titan II setup completely satisfies. I spend more time just listening than ever before. What I was looking for . . .

Spendors.

APOGEE ......Duetta Sigs or Diva's ...

Try for the Quad 989/988 or the Martin Logan Ascents or Odysseys. They all sell between 3500 - 8000 but can be gotten slightly used or demo for your budget. Check on audioreview.com for comments by owners on all listed selections .

Call Bob Gross at Speaker Art. Use the manufactures search engine on this site to get his phone number.

If you have the room. The Magnepan 3.6 is amazing in this range. It is many peoples favorite speaker at any price, but it is large (though flat)and power hungry.

Sunnyjim,

I believe the most musical speaker is one that is forgotten. You suddenly realize you are listening to the artist and the speaker has disappeared. Reference 3A DeCapos do this.

Do you want a smaller monitor, or a full size floor stander? Also, conventional cone drivers or electrostats/planers?

Musical does not necessarily mean less accurate. I think that a speaker is musical when it can reach to your emotions, make you connect with the music. With a musical system you stop analyzing the sound and you concentrate on the performance instead. In the price range you mentioned I would seriously consider any model from Sonus Faber - in my opinion some of the most musical speakers one can get.