Speaker recommendations, budget $10-15K


I am looking to upgrade my speakers. In particular, I am looking for better low-end extension than my current speakers, Sehring 703s, which the specs say go to 38Hz but seem to roll off above that. I primarily listen to rock. I have to say, I prefer a bit of warmth over ultimate transparency.

Ancillary equipment is a Pass Labs X150.5 power amp, Mystere ca21 preamp, Perfect Wave Mk2 DAC & Transport. Room size is 13x25. Speakers are facing out from the long wall. The speakers will be in my living room, so they cannot be too enormous or push the envelope aesthetically. I would prefer to buy new. While open to buying used, I am wary of shipping damage.

The speakers I plan to audition are:
Marten Django
DALI Epicon 8
Acoustic Zen Crescendo
Aerial 7T
Tannoy Kensington

I have also read good things about Vapor Audio Joule Black, but would have a real hard time auditioning them before hand.

I would appreciate any other recommendations of speakers to audition, as well as any thoughts about the speakers on my current list. Thanks.
mcondon

Showing 1 response by audiooracle


I see a few problems with the Cresendos, one if they have too much bass they will most likely overload this room speakers which go to the low 20's need a much larger room to not overload the room with bass.

I heard the Cresendos at CES a few years ago and I was not blown away at all, in fact I thought for a Chinese made product was was too expensive for its build quality which was good but not stealer.

The Marten is a much better speaker in terms of both driver technology and build quality. Ceramic drivers can be very transparent and fast but can sometimes sound a little too bright so setup is crucial. This listener values warmth over transparency and the Marten may be too much of a good thing.

Tannoy's are very dynamic and punchy but I don't find them really coherent or that transparent, and sound staging is good but not amazing.

Aerial I haven't heard nice speakers but I don't really think they are that special.

The Dali Epicon's are new and are getting rave reviews in Europe how they stack up is up to the listener, they have some very interesting new driver technology, which is said to dramatically lower distortion and they go low enough to be punchy but do not go low enough to overload this size of room, in addition they are stunning to look at and come from a long standing well established company.

The Dali's tonally are warm yet have some good detail in the top and have punchy bass and a huge three dimensional sound stage.

Unfortunately the Dali's have yet to be reviewed in the US yet, however, in the Absolute Sound buying guide there was a snippet review which was very positive.

I am a Dali dealer and we just got in a pair of the Epicon 8 which are getting burned in, right now they are sounding very good, but it is still too early to tell if they are good, great, or truly amazing loudspeakers.