Speaker upgrade itch Opinions 2500$used


Hello all and happy new year!!!

Like you all I have the upgrade itch and have decided that the speakers are what I want to change out next.

1. My goal is the most holographic soundstage and best imaging I can afford at this price range
2. I have no preference between bookshelf and tower speakers
3. I have no bass requirements as I currently live in an apartment and wouldn't want the bass to annoy the neighbors anyway!
4. Resale value is important, so very rare brands are out
5. My next speaker upgrade probably wont be for 2-5 years
6. Appearence isn't important, although I'd like to keep a reasonable footprint for the speakers
7. This is for a 2 channel only system

Currently the only speakers on my list to audition are Audio Physics Virgo IIs so all other suggestions are appreciated!

Some info about my tastes:

My current system:
Tyler Reference Monitors
Rogue Audio Magnum 66/88 (pre/amp)
CAL CL15 (cdp)
Transparent Audio MusicLink Plus Interconnects
PS Labs Lab2 powercord on cdp
Harmonic Tech ProAC-11 powercord on amp
(no special room treatments)

Current room is 14x18, but will be moving again in 7 months, so who knows what next (so not shopping for room specific speakers!)

The cd's I've been playing a lot of lately:
Cyndi Lauper - At Last
Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue
Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Sessions
Paul Simon - Graceland
Peter, Paul & Mary - 1st LP
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Steely Dan - 2 Against Nature
Laureena McKennit - The Visit
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac and Rumors
geoffgarcia

Showing 5 responses by geoffgarcia

Distortion,
I'm not against B&W at all, I just haven't heard anything by them that was impressive (granted I've only heard their lower lines.

I have enjoyed the Tylers. They are my first step into home audio unless you count my NHT SuperTwo's, but the Tylers are an ENORMOUS step-up from them in terms of clarity, seperation, imaging and soundstage. They dont get me to the toe tapping, emersed in the music state that I am looking for eventually.

My ear and audio vocabulary isn't at a point where I could say what I would like to improve upon.

Mburns92-
I've listened to a few sets of electrostats and have never been impressed with them. But it has been a few years since my last listen so I will make sure to audition some again as my appreciation of music/acoustics has grown over the years.
S23, I'm running signalCable biwire shotgun speaker cable at this time.

Thanks for all the opinions!
To be honest everyone I haven't heard enough sound improvement in upgrading electronics/cables to justify going that route any longer.

Rather than try to milk the final 3% potential out of my Tylers I would much rather take the leap with a higher quality speaker.
The reason being that I hear little difference in running my rogue 66/88 + CAL CL15 vs my Denon 1801 receiver and Pioneer dvd player (which cost roughly 1/15 the price in total)

So I'm really stuck on making this a strictly speaker upgrade.
Choices choices choices!!!
Well after much thinking I've down to two options:

A) continue on the speaker path and choose between:
Audio Physics Virgo II's
Silverline Sonnatina II's
ProAc 2.5
Avalon Avatar
Soliloquy 6.5

B) change out some wiring/amp/pre
most likely by a/b'ing my current rogue gear with one of the following:
VAC Avatar int
Sim i5 int
Cary SLI-80 int
CJ CAV-50 int

just wish it was easier to do home demo's with this gear!
what I inevitably end up doing for most of my testing is just buying the stuff and reselling the losing piece.
I'm just not sure if I should go with path a or b!
Thanks for everyones opinions!

I took some of the advice and got a bunch of gear! *hahah*

I opted to move away from the tubed gear because I wanted to be able to use my 2ch speakers in combination with my television which has no speakers (a projector)
I didn't want to put tons of hours on the tubes and wait for them to warmup..well you get the idea.

I moved over to a Plinius 8200mkII.
Sonically its not a major change to my ears. The tubes had a little more texture to the sound but nothing I can't live without at this time.

I then upgraded the CAL to a Muse 9 sig g4, which immediately was a big difference. I honestly wasn't sure I'd hear any difference, thinking maybe my ears are bad, but it was obvious, and for nearly triple the price of the CAL it should be. I was also very impressed with the sound of DVD-A. I bought a disc that I already had a regular version of, to compare with the higher sampled 2 ch DVD-A sound, and the difference is apparent. (Fleetwood Mac)

Next I upgrade my cabling. I sold out my MusicLink+ cables since I no longer needed so many (because of the move to an integrated) and I picked up a RidgeStreet Audio MSE gII.

The sound is better all around and I'm much happier!
I'm waiting for some mapleshade ampstands to arrive now so I can get the gear off of my coffee table;)
I got great deals on:
2 sets of heavy hats (weights for on top of gear)
2 sets of ultimate triple points (between platform/floor)
2 sets of isoBlocks (the under 100lb gear version, between gear and platform)
2 maple 2" thick platforms
and all for a very reasonable price! shopping around pays;)

My speaker itch continues despite all of my upgrades over the last 10 months and I'm still wanting to go out and audition.

I was just going through all the posts above and making a list of things to try to get demos of.

Audio Physics Virgos were very high on my list, last year there were 3-4 on audiogon every time I looked. Lately I haven't seen a set in about 4 months!!! so I wonder how easy they would be to resell in a few years! uh-oh!

Others on my list:
B&W N 803 (~2800 used)
Avalon Avatar (~2500 used)
SF Electa Amator II (~2600 used)
Merlin VSM-M (3200$ used)
Aerial 10T (~2500 used)
Jean Marie Reynaud Offrande (~2500 used)
Von Schweikert VR4 JR (~2500 used)
Von Schweikert VR4 III SE (~?? used)

any of these stand out above the rest?
BTW, my budget has increased up to about 3500$ used (if need be)