Opinions wanted: 10-30K Speakers for Jazz/Folk

There are so many great choices out there. I think if you have the space and don’t mind the size, I would say Martin Logan CLX with two subwoofers (Martin Logan Balancedforce or JL Audio Fathom), Wilson Audio Maxx 1, 2, or 3, Wilson Sasha Dawn, or Wilson Audio Alexa speakers. All have a great resale value down the road as well if you want to upgrade. 

JBL 4343B’s - great for jazz and folk and rock.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqBcW28IYsc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NiZ2k7GUWE&t=3s
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa69jb-jbl-4343b-speakers
http://jbl43.com/?mode=f3

Again, can’t help myself to plug this system.
heard it at one of the audio shows long time ago, his newer incarnation are so much better.

 Check it out, 
www.sanderssoundsystems.com. 
 Speakers, plus a Magtech amp, other stuff, and the warranty, .....best in the business.
you owe it to yourself to at least call and talk to Roger Sanders about his speakers, amps, etc. 

 take 20 min to call him, and speak to him. 
   His system is one of the best money can buy.
you will be rewarded !

 I wish I had your dilemma, I would be on the,phone w Roger immediately to talk. 
 Nothing to lose, everything to gain. 
 His amps are audios best kept secret.    Dad the review about the Magtech amps and those MBL radiostrahler speakers.    

Me, for what you describe, I like Maggies & Harbeth, both well below your price range, but I’m happy- ymmv

ProAc K3 or K6 signatures, they don’t need a ton of power but they will reward good power. 

Rockport Atria II's.  

At the high end of your range, but I think they do really well for what you're after.  I find them to be exceptionally accurate, but without venturing into sounding clinical - more "musical" (admittedly a hard to define term).  Voices come through with warmth, without sounding colored (Joni Mitchell's "Blue" sounds amazing, and IMO it's a hard recording to reproduce well).  Jazz records have a very nice spaciousness and sound stage, with live recordings sounding like they are really live, more than just a live recording ("Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra" is a great example).
https://rockporttechnologies.com/atria-ii/

I have mine paired with a Nagra Classic INT integrated amp.  Extremely happy with the combination. 

@mglik is right. I have used both Quad 57’s and the latest versions. The latest gives you an extra octave top and bottom, but there’s not all that much music there. The 57’s are just as satisfying as the latest versions.

The second best room I’ve ever heard used three pairs of 57’s, stacked. The best is my current room with 4 modern Quad ESL’s.

There are two speaker systems I'd recommend in your price range.  Buy either of these and you are DONE.

The first is the Dutch & Dutch 8c.   It is a total audio system, not just a good loudspeaker.  I have never seen a loudspeaker system so fully engineered.  Just add a laptop PC or streamer and you're done.  Comes with built-in, tri-amplified electronics, DSP EQ and DAC.   You don't even need speaker cables.  Just put it on your network and connect.   There is some critical setup to do during installation, but when you're done, you'll have sound as good as anything, at any price.  The imaging is the very best I've ever heard.  No shortage of dynamics, low end or mid-range clarity and detail.  Beyond stunning.

$12,000 new, retail.  There's a pair used on Audiogon for $9750.

The other loudspeaker system is the Linkwitz LX521.   Again, this is a fully tri-amplified and powered system.  Pre-built with electronics is somewhere around $15,000.   You can buy it as a kit and build it yourself, with a total project cost probably around $5000 - $6000.   Up to you.

I have $30K speakers I love a lot. But I will always miss my Quad 57s. Especially if you listen to folk and jazz, the Electrostatic Solutions Quads are $6500 and will thrill you for years or for ever.
They draw one into the music unlike any.

Since no one else has mentioned - GoldenEar Triton Reference. I have them in an 18x30x8 room, powered by Pass Labs INT250 and Luxman D05-u. I listen mostly to singer/songwriter and progressive rock. I love everything about this set up. Bass is great (no need for sub woofer), mid range is amazing, highs are unbelievable. The soundstage is wide and deep. I haven't had a single person that has come over to listen not be totally blown away by the sound.

Watt-Puppies

nhb1 I know absolutely nothing about Revel speakers. They have never been on my radar for some reason. 

Daveman2, humans have been killing and mutilating each other from the very beginning. That is how we evolved as no other critter could compete with us. There are always going to be nasty people. Get use to it. Maybe someday in 500 to 1000 years we might evolve out of it. I am Jewish and there is still plenty of anti Semitism around. I could care less. I do not blame the German people currently alive. I even own a Porsche and Ferdinand Porsche was pro Nazi in the beginning. 
All you can do is be successful and set an example. If you are lucky and in the right position maybe you can figure out a way to get people out of the ghettos. The big problem is not racism it is socio-economic.   

LOL anyway back to loudspeakers, I was over on another forum where so many people seem to love Revel speakers. These folks state the engineering is top notch despite the lower price tag. Is revel really all that? 

@terry9 

sometimes i wonder myself... the total crap that some folks post... 

Eh? Is this an audio forum? Or is it just an opportunity to bother people?

@mijostyn - We are so sorry that you constantly have to hear about a horrible injustice that gets people mistreated and killed daily, around the world, and creates huge divides between people.... Hey, it’s not about you, and how you feel. Think about the people it’s affecting. In the words of Meredith Palmer, "get off your high horse, Richy" -- "Sincerely disappointed." @bruce19 - I like it.

Anyway... back to the subject at hand. I agree with the sentiment already stated: there are way too many options. You’ll need to set up more parameters - preferences, requirements, overall budget, and the like - for us to really provide any useful input. Otherwise we’re just throwing out our favorite brands or models. @gano - true.

Altec Lansing?? Honk Honk!

Arcticdeath, Roger Sanders is an interesting guy and his speaker is excellent, if you are a hermit. Only one person gets a balance of frequencies. Everyone else has to imagine what treble sounds like. But, for that one person the experience is excellent. His amps are real winners at their price point. Personally if you are into ESLs the Sound Labs 545's are a better deal, not selfish, easy to drive and no cross over. Everyone should visit Roger's website and read his white papers. Smart guy!!
http://sanderssoundsystems.com 

Some people prefer the microscopic image dynamic speakers can provide. I think that is mistaken for detail. To get image depth and specificity out of a dipole you have to severely cut the volume coming off the back of the speaker by deadening the wall behind it preventing a big early reflection. Most people have listen to systems where this has not been done so they get a very large hazy image. Once you do this correctly you get a large holographic image you get sitting in row 6 at Symphony Hall or in a Jazz club. At big rock concerts there is no image, it is all in mono. Seeing a rock video can actually be better than going to the concert if you have the power to do it right. The only downside is you can't get a T shirt.

Tannoy arden  or bigger with Luxman / accuphase for revealing but not too tiring.... And bottom end budget
Harbeth lovely too but need 40. 2 for bass... I found the 30 series a bit light...

If USA devore and a lovely valve amp. Also heard good things about latest klipsch

I have AN-E LX/Signatures (with deja vu custom crossovers and woofers replaced with hemp versions due to cat incident).  Anyway, agree with earlier observations regarding relaxed sound - that’s exactly what i experienced whenever i entered the dealer’s AN room.  almost feng shui-like.  and they scream for tubes.

^^^Altec Lansing

Vandersteen, used Watt-Puppies, Walsh, Klipsch corner horns, Cornwalls, ProAc, NHT, Martin-Logan, Elac, Altec Landing or JBL. 

For that much coin, I would call Roger Sanders. 
 http://sanderssoundsystems.com
 Amazing products by a master designer and a very good honest man. 
 You will be pleased!

this post sounds like a high schooler's tricking people into doing his homework
"how you’d describe their sounds"

I would recommend the Wilson Yvette with a Parasound JC5 amplifier.  A sound to die for.

Bruce19, I am sick and tired of hearing about racism. We have improved dramatically over the last 150 years. Nobody I know is racist in the least.
Unfortunately, it still and will always exist in some circles just like the environment will always change. Both topics are used a political bludgeons interestingly by the people who were best at propagating both. We are all humans. We all deserve the same rights, opportunities and respect. Any deviation from this is not acceptable. 
Our largest problem today is white collar crime. Just check out your email box. 

I think it is important to think of not just the speaker, but, the combination of speaker and amplifier.  If you already have, or have in mind, certain electronics, it would be useful information about compatibility.  For example, Magnepan and Soundlabs have been mentioned above, and they are certainly very good brands, but, they may not quite be right if you have low-powered tube amplification.

It would also help to know what you have already heard and liked and disliked and the reasons for these opinions.

As to your specific question about Audio Note speakers, they tend to be unimpressive and undistinguished--AT FIRST BLUSH.  But, if you go into the audition without a critical mindset and just listen for enjoyment, I think they will show you what they are about--musicality, relaxed sound, fully saturated harmonics, dense texture, and natural sounding dynamics (realistic attack and decay of notes).  I find the upper bass to be a bit excessive and bloated (if I put my critic's hat on), but, that might be part of the charm and I easily ignore this "issue."  Although they are only moderately efficient, they are an easy load and work well with low-powered tube amps (my favorite kind), and that is a BIG plus.

Among my personal favorites, at any price, are the speakers from Charney.  I've heard their Companion range with the Voxativ driver and with the AER driver (they offer different choices of the single driver).  Both sounded terrific to me, although I favored the AER driver (located in Northern New Jersey, no dealerships).  This is very efficient system that can be used with SET amps.  Other brands that I think are worth looking into are Trenner and Friedl (Austrian, I believe) and SoundKaos (Swiss, I believe).

If you are ever in the Washington DC area, you should check out Deja Vu Audio (Tyson's Corner, a suburb of DC).  It is a dealership that also makes its own gear (amplifiers, phono stages, linestages, preamps, DACs and loudspeakers).  Most of the custom made speakers utilize vintage drivers.  They make speakers in your price range that would be terrific for your choice of music.  They also carry Audio Note speakers.

Good luck in your search

nhb1, I live in southern New Hampshire. In about two weeks I will have a pair of Sound Labs Speakers set up. Even though you are leaning towards Dynamic speakers you are welcome to have a listen.
Mike

I like the Tannoy. Beautiful cabinets. I heard Turnberry @ 6k a pair. They were smooth and effortless. They bigger ones should sound even better. Also Sonus Faber. The ones i heard were about $22K new. Preferred over Sasha DAW.  Rockport gets good recommendations.  Also curious about open baffles. Those would sound very good I think.  You can audition some of these at home.

Although - I’m reluctant to suggest any speaker (system), when you’ve not fully identified all the relevant "specs" - I must agree with "Willgolf" (as I have elsewhere on the forums) - the Viking Acoustics speakers are exceptional - especially with jazz, classical, country (all things acoustic).

While Willgolf has one (or two) of Viking’s more expensive speakers, I have their Berlin R MKII stand mount monitors, which are superb with tube amps and "all things acoustic." I also have a collection of several other speakers (including Maggies, Harbeth’s, Linkwitz’s, LaHave’s, etc. to name a few)... and... the Vikings provide the most lifelike sound with tube amps of those I have (though they all sound superb with the right setup). They provide a sound a bit similar to the higher end Tannoy’s (Canterbury, Westminster, etc.)

And... as Will noted, I had Dave Counsel modify my Berlin’s caps and woofer / midrange to provide a bit more detail resolution, clarity and dynamics than the original design - though all his designs provide superb sound in all respects. I bought mine when Viking was known as dc10Audio - and Dave made the changes promptly with a minimum of cost with me just describing the sound I preferred.

As you’ve seen his product line is in your price range. And... if... you want to avoid the crowds of AXPONA (or similar), you might want to vacation in Santa Fe to hear the Viking’s - great place to visit any time of year, especially if you like to ski, or just enjoy Southwest cuisine, and interesting art. Or, I think Dave also makes some of the shows to demo his wares - so, you might check that out also. You won’t be disappointed and will have a great time, whichever. And... if you’re going to invest that kind of money, as indicated in your headline, it would well be worth your time and money.

Hi, I have an Audio Note system and my main listening genere is jazz. I started in a different direction but ended up with AN. The sound is extremely musical. You will be immersed in it, not listening to the system. Set up right, the speakers disappear. There is only a big wall of three dimensional music, where every instrument is separated, distinct, enjoyable. It is not as detailed or clinical as other brands, but musical like no other. You must listen to AN before you make any decision. I run AN-J She speakers with a Meishu Silver 300B amp (only 8W/CH) all tied up with AN cables and wow, it is magical.
But, you have to listen for yourself and most of all, enjoy the process...

@nhb1 Because you love Folk and Jazz you get where this music came from. You want to enjoy the music more. Music that  wasn't made for royalty or oligarchs, it is from and for regular people with challenging lives. You enjoy the soul of the music.

    So here is some advice that may get me ostracized here and which you would probably never get from any dealer. Give $25000 to a worthy charity or a University you respect. Endow a scholarship or help people put out of work by the pandemic. Aid those afflicted by the racism we have yet to come to terms with or a family who has lost it's breadwinner due to the pandemic. Find a music school and create a small scholarship fund. Make a difference in someones life with that money. Help create the folk and jazz of tomorrow.

    Then take whats left and by a pair of KEF LS50 metas  or Magnepan LRS's and a nice subwoofer or two and pair it with a good integrated like the Rogue Sphinx and really enjoy the music!

See if you can find a Spendor dealer in your neck of the woods. The Spendor D-line might be the ticket!
https://www.spendoraudio.com/d-line-loudspeakers/
The Proac D48r is another option!
https://www.proac-loudspeakers.com/html_files/Speakers.php?Range=Response&Speaker=ResponseD48

I own 2 pair of Emerald Physics OB speakers. The 2.8s are their flagship MSRP was $10K but they're out of production. There's a pair for sale

https://www.usaudiomart.com/search.php?keywords=emerald+physics+&cat_id=25&price_min=&pr...
hth

MAGICO,ROCKPORT or VIMBERG jump on a pair ASAP!!

@nhb1, since you're near Boston, I highly recommend Goodwin's in Waltham. They have a huge selection and several listening rooms with several different ranges of equipment and very knowledgeable and friendly salespeople. Not pushy in the slightest. They'll sit you down on a couch, give you a tablet for streaming and leave you alone for as long as you want.

I personally have a pair of Magico Mini IIs (stand-mounts) paired with a JL Audio sub and I'm very happy with the sound. Magico makes some great speakers in your price range. I have a narrow listening room, about 13 x 25, and prefer the flexibility of a separate sub with its own room correction. Bass is the hardest to get right in a room. A self-powered sub with automatic room correction will save you a ton of headaches trying to dial in the bass. And you can basically put it anywhere.

Enjoy the shopping and listening phase of your journey. It's one of the best stages of audio purchasing, and you probably won't find yourself in the market that often. So make the most of it. 

Cube nenuphar speakers

57 quads

One angle you might consider is whether you need thundering bass, level down to 16Hz.  There is no signal down there in jazz and folk.

If you forego that, on your budget you will now be able to afford real state of the art speakers, because of the money saved on not needing the last 10Hz.

On that programme I would go planar for holographic accuracy and real presence.  But there are loads and loads of other ways to go.

This might do. There is another pair on Audiogon, different colour.
Add D'Agostino Momentum integrated or separates, add some cables and cords and you are almost done. Yes, the source, but you didn't ask about that.
MBL and SoundLabs are interesting choices, so is Kharma.
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa6e33-wilson-audio-sabrina-loudspeaker-pair-galaxy-grey-full-ra...

Both pushing the top end of your budget, Avalon and Estelon are two brands to look for.

I don't think it's a reasonable budget, it's such a wide range. You could get everything you need for that room size for 5K

Be sure to audition planar speakers. Personally, I’m into Quad ESL arrays. 2905 / 2912 described as clarity without edge - but also, no head-banging volume. YMMV

lots of good ground covered here already... scott at verdant has made excellent contributions, esp. good with what amps drive what speakers well

i only have a few points to add...

- at this level of cost for speakers, all recommended ones are going to be excellent but they will each present the music in their special way, and will appeal to listeners seeking particular strengths -- and there are many many of them out there worth consideration

- given this, it would helpful if the op would share what speakers/systems he has owned or heard and particularly enjoyed, or that he was told were ’great systems’ that he was underwhelmed by

- also, if there are some other pieces of gear (tt, cartridge, dac etc etc) that op would like to run in this new system of amps/speakers, that would be good to factor in

more input of this sort would help narrow the field among a multitude of qualified and legit contenders

@nhb1 One thing I did not read was your budget for the rest of your system.

Thank you to everyone, luckily I am able to hear most of these brands as I am not too far from Boston. 

Can I ask those of you who have heard audio note speakers, how would you describe their sound and what other speaker company might you liken it to? I will be listening to those soon... hopefully!

@willgolf I got a kick out of the viking website. Checking out what the have to say critics, seeing mostly good feedback. Unsure about how horns effect sound, will read up.

@bassdude good call on apoxna, are there many 20k speakers there? All the pics I see are of insane $$$ gear. Insane that 20k is not insane in this world!

@p05129 who is MC and which speakers are you referring to?

I am not sure where you are located but I suggest you look at the Rockport Atria II. I picked up a pair after owning magicos and could not be happier. 

MC-give it up, we all know you have no system to talk about and you have no ears to actually hear a good system. There are many good brands of speakers in your price range but some of them will require good quality amps to get the best sound out of them. Some quality speakers to check out are from: Revel Salon2 or Studio2, Wilson, Usher be-10 or be-20’s, Raidho, and others. Or you can go the MC route, buy something you never heard for the cheap and claim it’s better than $1M systems, when he hasn’t actually heard these more expensive systems

Get off merry go round and buy some Tannoys....you also won't have to spend 30k...maybe 7 to 10k...

Given what you’re looking for I’d definitely make Harbeth speakers a must hear.  They’re voiced starting with the midrange and are very musical speakers.  ProAc, Verity Audio, Rockport Technologies, Sonus Faber, and DeVore would be some other good options off the top of my head.  Best of luck.