speaker suggestions for modest arcam alpha system

thanks Tom,

i kinda like the idea of stereo being just two speakers (less money, less wires, less knobs, less floorspace)... which puts bookshelf speakers at a serious disavantage (plus the cost of stands) but i will start my research on them all!

i have seen a couple other recomendations for the ProAc speaker saying they are a good setup with Arcam...are they affiliated to each other or simply both british companies?

also seen references to arcam sounding well matched to B&W and mission speakers (i think both british companies?)

also, being satisfied with paradigm, the monitor 7v3 is not out of the question...but would like to try a different company's offerings..thanks Mark

Tom,
yeah i learned a bit more about Thiel after my second post...one concern I came up with about the Thiel is that its rated at four ohms, which i believe will make my Alpha 9 integrated work pretty hard, and the amp tends to timeout when it gets hot...(am i completly off base?)(would a powered sub alleviate some of this with it's own internal amplification?) (i have read that the Alpha 9 biamped system alleviates this problem)

Tom, could you update this post when you get your ProAc/Arcam system dialed in?....they are the speaker i am kind of leaning towards (but price could be a problem)

the Ascend Acoustics have been recommended to me before and seem to have a loyal following...i was actually considering them for my home theatre...but changing out my Paradigms and using them for home theatre sounded like more fun!

thanks for all the input...right now i am leaning towards the ProAc (if i can find 'em in my price point) followed by Thiel and Meadowlark...but i need to do more research on Totem and Dali...i am still leaning towards floorstanders due to personal preference, but maybe i should buy some bookshelfers just to broaden my horizens a bit...thanks again, mark

so many options...i love it....i am glad to see all the replys and also glad there are so many companies devoted to making great speakers...i am no where close to making a decision :)...

dawgbyte, i love your all encompasing statement that the hales are better than everything else listed (have you heard some of the other speaker's listed?...which ones?....why are they better IYHO?...thanks)...anyone else able to throw a little contradiction into the discussion...the more experience you've had with the aformentioned equipment, the more valuable your opinion will be to me...IMHO :)

Tom, it sounds like you have some experience with the theil's (and i am eager to hear your experience with the ProAcs), I have some concerns with the Thiels that you might be able to shed some light on. Based solely on web reviews, I am afraid that the Thiels may be too revealing for my musical tastes, too fucused on the sweetspot listening position and more than once, i've encountered posts about reliabilty issues, which may be due to neglect/ignorance or truely meritable)...any thoughts?

I've also come to the conclussion that my love of floorstanders is dumb....thanks everyone that has recommended monitor style speakers

the scariest part of all of this for me is that i have no way of touching/smelling/hearing most of the aformentioned speakers....this is not good...(local audio shops offer paradigm, totem, and tannoy)...unfortunately for me, your guy's opinions are going to help steer me to my next speaker choice :0

Hi Tom,
my experience is limited (paradigm monitor 7v2 and v3 and a pair of dynaudio floorstanders $4000ish of a good freind of mine that lives 1000 miles away..no way to compare, but i was very impressed with what i heard)

based on what i am hearing with my monitor7v2s, i would say i am most interested in having better definition in the bass/mid-bass frequencies (doesn't have to go as low, just be more accurately defined)...if the rest of the speaker sounded like my paradigms, i'd be pretty satisfied.

i prefer a warm sound...given my affinity towards rock and roll, i have always like the sound of equipment sounding "tube-like" :)...i do suffer some fatigue from overly forward high frequencies, so a little dark and laid back (hence the arcam and NAD gear...i thought NAD was a little too dark and slightly muddy, though)

i want a speaker that does imaging well (but i tend to believe alot of the imaging thing is room/speaker/setup stuff...a whole different part of the fun)...

I am sure my current speakers are overloading my room with bass frequencies and have crossover settings that prohibit details and nuances in the music to come through...i'd like to hear some of those details!...

dead on accuracy is not high on my list and most recordings i listen to are not top notch productions...(thus my fear with thiels).....

i don't want my music tastes to change because certain genres of music sound better on my equipment (i think jazz did that to my buddy with the dynaudios :)...he says it's just maturing musical tastes :) (i will admit that jazz did sound excellent and life-like on his system)...mark

Thanks everyone,

John z, i don't blame you for avoiding specific component speaker recommendations, but in this case, it's been super helpful...before this post, i was thinking about paradigm monitor 7v3's exclusively (which are significantly better then the v2s imho)...

but now i think i am sold on looking for some used proac tablettes or Hales monitors with a distant third place going to the soliloquy 5.0s (from reviews, it sounds like the 5.0s may not cater to my musical likeings as much as my top two choices)...

one other speaker group that kept coming up in negative reviews of both the proac tablettes and hales R1 were dynaudio audiance 50 (monitor) and 60 (small floorstander) (not exactly sure if i can get them in my pricepoint though)...any thoughts?

also any thoughts on how the proac tablette 50s compare with the tablette 2000s would be helpful....Mark