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Speaker choice

I listen to music at my living room second floor which is open space linking to first floor and about 12ft x 15 ft. 
 

My source is a Naim uniti atom network streamer and my amp is a Pass Labs XA30.5. I use to run this set up with a small harbeth p3ESR. But I couldn’t feel the speaker is not enough as the space is too huge for it. Now I have sold my speakers I m looking for a floor standing pair or a bigger XD speaker. 
 

budget : within $5k used unit. I will buy a subwoofer eventually to enhance the bass  if needed. Need to save up. 

I listen to mostly pop and orchestra music. I enjoy good and sweet Treble , clear , detail and musical vocal with lots of air and tight and solid base. I like my music that gives me the feeling that I am physically at the concert hall.

Which pair of speakers I should consider ? 

starystarynite
chayro
3,049 posts
 

@yogiboy but don’t forget to figure in for good stands. IMO, they make a big difference with Harbeth. I prefer open-frame metal, but that’s me 

jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,396 posts
 

Talk to Erik at Tektondesign . He has plenty of speakers that He can meet your need. His speakers does play orchestra well and pop as well.Nothing to loose except your time if you decided to call Him.

jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,396 posts
 

Op Erik can save you a lot of money.With your 5k budget? I will talk to Him first before diving to other brand.

drrsutliff
895 posts
 

I will agree with @chayro ​​​​@yogiboy that the Harbeth HL5 would work well in your room.  A friend has the P3 and HL5 and we have used both of them in his 10’ x 14’ room.  The P3 have nice tone and presence, but the HL5 pressurize the room much better with the same excellent Harbeth character. 

panzrwagn's avatar
panzrwagn
646 posts
 

If you can locate the speakers out in the room 3ft or more from the back wall, a 2X8" 3-way tower would work. If you have to place them closer to the rear walls, id consider a 2X6" 3-way design. I prefer dual ports for tunability via port-plugs, and rear mounting for most efficient room loading, although bottom mounted ports on an elevated plinth can work very well. Within those parameters there a lot of choices. I'd avoid anything over 10 years old or from out-of-business manufacturers simply for serviceability reasons. In your price range and to my ears, Monitor Audio, KEF, Sonus Faber, and Revel all make exceptional products, with nods to Golden Ear and Sourcepoint for their unique takes. All of these represent great values as well. And of course everyone should own a pair of Magnepans at some point, provided you have the requisite 100W/ch high current amp and a Maggie-friendly room. 

Finally comes your specific tastes, both in sound quality and esthetics, not to mention SAF. So you really have to listen to as many as you can, do  your research, and know what matters most to you. For me, image and soundstage, dynamics, bass control are all critical, but if the speaker has all those and makes human voice muddy, boomy, honky, or nasal, dead stop, nope. 

Most importantly, enjoy the process. And when you finally decide, enjoy the music.

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