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 2 responses by mlsstl

I had a set of Maggie 1.6qr speakers some years ago and when we moved they no longer cosmetically fit into the room at the new house. I tried a couple of different options but ended up with a pair of Ohm 1000 speakers which have since followed me to a third house. The both look and sound great in the current room.  Their semi-omni radiation pattern captures much of the sonic spaciousness that was also an attractive feature of the Maggies. Ohm has several options in your price range.  They also offer a 120 day in-home audition period, though you do incur shipping costs if you return them.  

Pretty simple concept that a long term relationship with anyone requires some compromise from both sides. My wife of 49 years knows my quirks and I know hers. We both have some good stories about the other and what each has to put up with.  I'm very happy we've both figured out what works for us.