Whatever you narrow your decision to, listen to them carefully, hopefully with similar amplification. I am in similar situation where I plan to move to a new house next year, and will finally have a dedicated listening room. I have owned Martin-Logan electrostatic speakers for over 25 years and those will stay in the main room tv/audio system. But as I am considering a second system for the new music room, I have listened to about 6 dynamic only speakers in a high-end music salon, priced between $1,800 (Sonus Faber) and $20,000 (Fyne, SF, etc.). I left feeling underwhelmed. I spoke with a friend on mine that has an awesome audio system with Sound Lab A1's and Jeff Rowland amplification. I mentioned the quandary to him and he reiterated my feelings: that no matter how expensive (he has a buddy with $130,000 speakers and a 7-figure system), he feels he still hears it as coming out of a box, not out of the air. Maybe our hearing is spoiled, or at least tuned, to hearing true dipole panels, which your Maggies would be. Accordingly, I will now be looking closely at new Martin-Logans for my new room. I find them much more visibly attractive than Maggies, so maybe your wife will as well. My wife absolutely love the M-Ls. Take her shopping with you.
New house, wife reveals she hates my Maggies- looking for stand mount speaker suggestions
Just closed on a new house and as we were walking through and discussing furniture, my wife revealed she has always hated my Maggies and wants them not to make the move. I have had a semi-dedicated music room, so they were kind of out of sight at our old place, so she never complained. So a bad news but good news (new speakers!) situation.
Present set up is near field, room perhaps 10x10,but partially open, angled ceilings for some pretty good acoustics. Should be able to set up similar size near field space in new home.
Amp is Primaluna HP with 8xEL34, Conrad Johnson ET7 tube preamp, PS Audio Direct stream DAC and Naim Uniti digital ripper/hard drive. I listen to lots of different music, but always come back to acoustic guitar or piano with female or male vocalists, or acoustic jazz. Big soundstage, vocal warmth and detail (guitar strings plucking) are what I enjoy.
My Wife liked (the looks of) my old Rogers LS3/5a back in the day, or my Reference 3a Royal Masters. So I figure I will be looking for a stand mount monitor. But my budget is $5-10k, used or new, so I suspect I can do better than the LS3/5a.
i have always loved the Joseph Audio Pulsars, but you never see them used and the new graphine ones are out of my price range. Looking for other ideas: Sonus Faber are easy to look at, but I have never listened to their monitors. The monitor versions of Raidho and Focals are ugly enough to fail the WAF test.
so help me out here- what should I consider?