Recommed a medium sized monitors that can go loud


I want to downsize my speakers from a floor stander (Acoustic Zen Adagios)to a "medium size" monitor or "MAYBE" a slim profile and light weight floor stander that can play loud, but also sound clean, transparent, and musical.

I have a Rogue integrated hybrid amp(100RMS) and a Ayre CX-7e mp CD player. So far, I have considered: KEF LS-50; Harbeth 30.1;.... Harbeth new SHL Super Plus( too expensive).... Monitor Audio Gold GX-100; Devore O/93 ( too expensive and possibly overrated) Scansonic MB-2.5; B&W's 804 or 805; KEF 300R; I can spend about $3000-3500 for used mint speakers, possibly a little more.

Please note: I saw two separate ads on Audiogon for KEF LS-50's that sold within a week; yet. I cannot believe that these speakers have any real bass or don't sound bright or lean..... Thank you.

sunnyjim

Showing 3 responses by sunnyjim

Thanks to all who have responded so far. However. I may have overstated or over emphasized the "loudness" factor. The reason is I play a lot of classic 60's rock, some jazz/rock fusion,some classical music, and big band. But not head banging crazy loud, but more importantly a speaker that is both transparent and musical.

I happened to notice the other day playing Elton John's track called "Hercules" an excellent piece of straight ahead "rock and roll", that the electric guitars jam got lost a bit in the mix and sounded a bit congested. I realize there are too many reasons to recount for that to happen. The issue is both smoothness and clarity. This may not be possible in many so-called high-end monitors Though, I happened to run across a review of the Raidho M-1 which claimed that its electrostatic(?)tweeter can unravel much of the high frequency mix on excellent CD recordings. Nice, but $14,000 plus is not my budget.

I am curious if any of the British monitors have a similar resolving power, like the new Harbeth SLH -5 Super Plus, or the previous 30.1 even though both use traditional dome tweeter. Lastly, I got to consider budget, speaker size, the anomalies of room acoustics, and my current electronics. Rogue is very good, but it is not PASS, AR or other top shelf electronics

A review I saw in "Soundstage(2012) of Monitor Audio's GX-100 praised it across the board, though also implied that it can sound bright. However, M.A. has a new series of speakers. The equivalent to the GX-100 is now called G-100 and supposedly improved. The Monitor Audio speakers I have heard over the last 10 years were very good, however, I get a bit suspicious when a big company like M.A. keeps pouring out new series every 2-3 years. This marketing plan always suggested to me a mid-fi strategy, and not necessarily an attempted to produce a high-end speakers, but I could be very wrong about that assumption. Cheers to all !!!!

To Wolf-Garcia, a worthy correction, "dynamic" is a excellent substitute for loud or loudness
To Murgeshj: Thank you for heads up about the bass of the Scansonic MB-2.5. Scansonic like many other grands are not readily available in most audio shops. And with demise of mortar and brick showrooms it becomes almost impossible to hear them unless you want to travel to another city

To Mtbrider. Thanks for the comment, but Ascend is not a speaker that is know by many people. However, I will google up a few reviews if they exist.