Speaker advice for listening to Blues music


Hi, new to the forum, and hoping I can get some help finding the right speakers... I'm a Blues guitar player and have a dedicated music room for my guitars/amps. I usually spend time playing my guitars and recently decided to setup a decent system for listening to my Blues music. I first started with a Marantz integrated (PM8005) and some Kef R300, source is a Marantz ND8006 and I mostly play FLAC files from a NAS, but also started streaming from Spotify and now trying Tidal. This setup was great at first, very revealing, but found the R300 were not the right speakers for the kind of music I listen to, but they were great for some Jazz and did well with good recordings, which most of my Blues recordings weren't, specially live albums. I also found them to be a little boomy in that small room (12' X 12'), so I moved them to the living room instead and added a matching center, they're perfect there.

Next came the LS50, read so much about them I had to get a pair to try. Wow! I still can't believe what these small speakers can do, the details I hear, soundstage, imaging, it's all there. But, just like the R300, since they're so revealing they're horrible with my favorite Blues recordings. It's great to listen to excellent recordings and enjoy the music these speakers are making but I want to enjoy MY music, the Blues greats I've been listening to for over 30 years. If it sounds great in the car then I should be able to find the right gear to duplicate at home, right? On some good Blues recordings it sounds excellent, but most of my favorites aren't good recordings.

Since I only play my guitars through old Fender amps I figured I should replace the Marantz integrated with a tube amp, so next came the PrimaLuna integrated. I wanted to get a "warmer" sound and hope it'll fix the issues I was having with most crappy recordings... I want to hear BB's beautiful guitar tone and crank it up, without hurting my ears. Both Kefs were too fatiguing to listen to. And on most live recordings guitars sound way too thin and bright, not what I'm used to hearing. A good example is Albert King's Wednesday Night in San Francisco, that Flying V can be painful to listen to after a couple of minutes! Not so in the car or even just using headphones and my laptop. I understand that it's because the system is more revealing, but is it possible to have both, revealing and musical so that one can enjoy the music they love? The PrimaLuna did help and it's staying, I like what I'm hearing so far, and I get to play with tubes, something I enjoy doing already :)

Right now I'm breaking in some Wharfedale Denton 80th, I wanted to try something with a soft dome tweeter, something less fatiguing than the LS50. I'm at 70+ hours so far and they're sounding much better, not as fatiguing, but something is missing... I prefer the LS50's soundstage and details, but they're both not that great for electric guitar. The Dentons are more forgiving but I don't find them musical and they don't disappear like the LS50s do.

So what are my choices? Do I stick with bookshelf, try some floor standing? What about single driver speakers (Omega, Zu...)? Are those the answer to what I'm looking for? I need something more forgiving, musical, efficient so I can crank it up when I feel like playing along some times... I want the guitar to sound full and not thin and bright. It's a small room and not a lot of space due to my guitar gear. My budget is also limited, would like to keep it under $2k, I already have a hobby and don't want this to get out of control :)

Forgot to mention, I also have a Rel sub, so not too worried about the low end. Sorry for the long post and thanks for any help!
cedarblues

Showing 5 responses by soma70

I think this is a really interesting problem and one which I have also experienced in the past.

What you have are some highly revealing speakers and a sub which are highlighting problems in the audio signal, upstream. 

You don’t need to spend very much to fix this and i don’t believe buying a less revealing speaker is the way to go.

A power conditioner or regenerator will transform the sound you have and give you what you looking for. It will remove the etched over detailed top end and bring forward the mid and lower bass. The sound will be relaxed and natural.

You really don’t know what the The Prima Luna and digital source are capable of until you give them clean power and isolate them from each other.

A big difference between mid priced and high end components is often the quality of the power supply so mid priced components benefit more from this type of upgrade, than high end systems.

Not all power conditioners are equally effective and some can be detrimental. Having tried several I have found that Shunyata conditioners work very well and you could pick up a second hand Hydra 2 or 4 for a just a few hundred $

it will also transform your guitar amp! 

good luck.






i should have added that you also need some aftermarket power cables to get the best from the power conditioner. Nothing expensive, just shielded and with lower awg than the the stock cords and plugged straight into the wall.
Spotify has digital EQ in settings/playback

EQ for Tidal is via Roon integration 
i use the Sunyata Hydra conditioner on my power amp (as someone mentioned above, a passive conditioner does not restrict the power supply) and the streamer (which has a linear power supply -  but i think that dumps noise back into the wall). The hydra made no difference to the DAC/pre but that is a fairly high end piece of kit and has a very good power supply already. you just have to try the conditioner on each component and see what works. 

recommending a non branded power cable company is tricky as i am in the UK and i made my own from DH Labs, but you should be able to find some 9-14 awg, shielded cables on ebay for about $30/40/50 each. 
Cedar. I have a dedicated feed from my CU and thought my power was pretty clean as well until i found a conditioner that worked. Over bright/thin sound is the predominant character of noisy power. re the Tripp Lite Isobar, it’s quite common to start out with a power block surge protector and then find the sound is better without it. you should try plugging the power cables direct into the wall and just see if it changes anything but i would really encourage you to buy some after market power cables. you will need try some or all of the components with a conditioner to see what works. have fun experimenting!