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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?

meiatflask

Showing 4 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
8,267 posts
 

@premcjss 

yessmiley

 

Definitely if she doesn’t like Maggie’s… she’ll go for MBL! Excellent recommendation! She will be so sorry she complained about the Maggie’s. this could be an excellent precedence.

ghdprentice
8,267 posts
 

My partner of 40 years occasionally likes to tease me about all the money I have spent on audio equipment. On the other hand she has recognized how I have worked 60 to 80 hours a week for decades and is happy to see me enjoy some of what I have worked for. We have a partnership where we try and encourage each other to achieve, but to also enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Women, no matter how liberated believe the decor of a home is a direct reflection of them. So, they must be somewhat self-aware to recognize you live there as well. I think this is a necessary quality for someone I would be in for a long term relationship. 

ghdprentice
8,267 posts
 

@goose 

+1

ghdprentice
8,267 posts
 

If you liked the planar sound. Then I would look for speakers with Air Motion Transducers (AMT or Heil). They are kind of like folded Maggies for the high and mid frequencies. This will help you through, by giving you the liquid mids and high of the ribbon speakers. You can just google speakers with Air Motion Transducers. 

If you want to move on from planar. I did. I realize as great a sound as planar gave, I wanted a more natural and musical sound. Your electronics are well set up for that. I prefer Sonus Faber (you like listening to the music and not your system)... they have many different stand mounted models. If you want more precise and a bit more audiophile sounding (you like listening to your system a bit more) then DynAudio. If you want a bit more happy, punchy, fun to listen to sound ( a bit less audiophile), have a look at Totem.  

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