Speaker candidates/suggestions

@agwca I auditioned the Bison towers, not the bookshelf speakers. They were too small for my room, unfortunately. They had great imaging and soundstage. I ended up keeping the Tektons and selling the Sugden. I kept the Belles Aria. I ended up buying the Revival Atalante 3 speakers for my primary system---fantastic speakers!

Presuming the Totems were the Bison bookshelf speakers, how did you find them?  What were their strong points and did you keep them? Thx.

I was able to audition (at home) the Totems but unfortunately they're going to be too small for my main room---I may try them in a smaller room. Hoping the Vandy's will work out.

@bluorion cool, write your impressions after that!

@iad Thanks---good to know. I have a chance to audition them next month when I travel out of town. I found a dealer so I can't wait!

Vandersteen 1ci are amazing speakers, I had them for many years. Then I moved to another country and had to sell them. The most opened and airy sound I've ever heard, it fulls the room and the whole apatment. 

The Fritz Carbon 7 SE MK2 speakers are very fine in many ways. I owned them for a short while. I found the more I listened, the more there was something bothering me on the high end. Nothing egregious, I don't know if it was a roll off or my room ,but there was something almost semi-muted at the top that bothered me, very very subtle, and I fed my addiction and sold them off. I would listen carefully, and if you love them, wonderful. As far as alternatives, I can't speak to amp matching, but some of the NOLA offerings, Boxer variations are held in high regard. Perhaps even some of the more  recent Quads, S2, Z2, etc Just thinking out loud.

Thanks @mesch -- that's good to know. I saw on another post that Davis Belles also likes Fritz speakers. The Sugden class A is sublime.

I  own the Fritz Carbons you are considering. A very easy to drive speaker. You get a home trial period. Give the owner a call.  With either amp you own they would be provided plenty of power.  I would think the class A  Sudgen could throw a party with them.  I use mine with two different amps in rotation, an EL34 tube amp or the Pass Labs XA25 SS. 

The best Loudspeaker bargain Anywhere Clayton Shaws open baffle Loudspeakers ,far better then they have a right to be at $3k a for sure must check out.

Hands down Revival Audio - Atalante 5 Speakers $5K and don't look back.

I haven’t heard any of the speakers on your list but I have a pair of Fritz Rev 7 SEs that do well with all types of music.  I’ve auditioned a handful of others looking to replace them at some point but they stood up so well I’ve kept them.  I’ve compared them to B&W 805D4, Focal Sopra 1, Joseph Audio Pulsars, Fyne Audio 502SP.  Fritz might have a bit of a cult following but that’s cause they are very good speaker’s especially at the price point.

@bluorion thank you! I collected the data and built it 6 months ago and I am planning to add a few more brands and features. But if one person finds it useful, I am happy!

btw I like your choices. The safe one is Totem, obviously; Fritz and the Vandies have a die hard cult following

Thanks @hilde45 --- I'll check it out. I've seen really good reviews for the Carbons. The Totems get great reviews as well but apparently they love power so I'm not so sure my amps (particularly the Sugden) will be enough? On Totem's website the recommended amp power is 30 - 150 wpc. The Sugden is 23 wpc. But Proacs do well with Sugden.

Thanks @grislybutter ---never seen that site before! Wow!

I think in a room that size I would have to give the Clayton Shaw Acoustic Labs Caladans a go. Only problem with that is the wait time.

I posted this on another thread, but in case you didn't see it: 

I have not hear the others. I've owned both the Carrera and the Carbon 7 mk2 SE and I much prefer the Carbon 7, and this is the speaker Fritz is going to continue focusing on. Here are a couple reviews:

Written and video

The Carreras' Be tweeter is quite bright and if you have the ear and room for it, quite lovely. But it's a much more difficult tweeter to live with, longer term. That's how things wound up playing out for me.  In short, I'd get the Carbons.

https://speakerchoices.com

All good choices. I’d add the Reference 3a MM de Capo BE that are 92dB efficient, the Revival Atalante 3, and the beautiful Usher Dancer Mini-X with their top diamond tweeter as a few others to ponder. ProAc is also worth a good look as well as the new MoFi SourcePoint monitors. Sorry if I’m just making this harder but lotsa great choices in this price range, and best of luck.

I'm very much liking the match of Belles Aria Signature and Totem Sky Towers...

On your list, the Bison tower would be a decent choice (The other 2 are lackluster non-innovative meh).