2. speakers
  3. 162677-155068

Speaker upgrade for classical music

Hi, I need recommendations for a speaker upgrade. I’m a classical violinist and listen almost exclusively to classical, opera and jazz. No movies, Atmos, etc.  I have a 17x14 listening room (doubles as practice room) with acoustical treatments (phase coherent diffusers at main reflection points and regular ones elsewhere).
Half my listening is in stereo and half in multi-channel (4.0 and 5.1).   All my recordings are either CDs or high-res—DSD and FLAC—audio files. I don’t have a turntable. 

My current system: Marantz SR 8012 amp, Yamaha S1000 CD transport, Exasound e38 DAC and Sigma streamer (connected to the Marantz with analog 5.0 inputs). Speakers: Polk Rti A7 stereo, CSi A6 center, Rti A3 surround, and dual REL T/7i subs. 
What I want: speakers with improved musical detail and clarity that really reproduces the expansiveness of the symphony hall or church. I like a warmer sound than a drier one.  What’s most important to me is to hear what the recording engineer heard. Budget: say 8k or less.

Recommendations?  One other thing: Can I try them out?  And how?  I’m in Santa Fe, not a huge metropolis with lots of audiophile shops. 
Thanks very much. 
ssmaudio

Showing 3 responses by jjss49

jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
op

glad you got out heard the speakers demo-ed... not easy in this time we are in

curious why you only heard the little harbeths vs tannoys... did the dealer not have the larger harbeths?

anyhow, i agree that harbeths have a warmer presentation... system and equipment matching can help to highlight the treble more if the user desires...

to me the harbeth sound is more mid hall in an symphony hall, whereas more forward (and equally excellent) speakers like proacs or spatials give you more of a 'row 10' presentation

all a matter of taste, which is why so many different successful speaker brands exist

good luck!
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
a few comments on recent posts below

sonus fabers have been a quintessential speaker brand for classical music reproduction for many many years

focals would do well too

harbeths can have excellent detail, the overall presentation is warmer though... some folks mistake this for lack of detail

proacs have more ’overt detail’ as the mid bass is dialed back compared to harbeth’s voicing

british speakers from the bbc lineage or close relation thereof -- spendor, rogers, harbeth, kef etc etc -- are indeed very good at classical music as that was mostly what was being broadcast when the whole movement came to be - their lossy cabinets provide wonderful sympathetic resonances that mimic that of many acoustic instruments in symphonies and orchestras

open baffle/dipole/omni directional radiator speakers are very very good for classical as they aid in producing a large airy image and a ’wave of sound’

as always, in ANY of the above, room acoustics and system matching are very important to achieve desired results
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
big spendors (d9)
new/current spatials
upper proacs
big harbeths
upper vandys

have fun, good luck

there are certainly others out there that can fill the bill too, but i can personally vouch for these
More to discover