Speakers for Lamm ML2.1

High efficiency conventional and vintage horns:

Magico Ultimate
Avantgarde Trio
Edgarhorn
Siemens Klangfilms
Tannoy GRF's

Conventional mid efficiency dynamic speakers:

Kharma Grand Ceramique
Von Schveikert VR6
Wilson Maxx2*

What have you heard with the ML2.1 driving? The ML2.1 with the right speakers (over 100db) will be able to produce mind altering results including startling dynamics and bass, beyond any conventional setups you may have heard. Conventionally, I am currently very happy with the Kharma 3.2 Lamm ML2.1 combination and it is surprisingly satisfying robust and dynamic.

Your current room is almost square so you may have issues with true full range speakers and room modes that may need addressing (ie a new room). If you were stuck in that room (which it sounds you are not) you might want a smaller 2 way with bass supplemented by an adjustable subwoofer that you could back off of excessive low end if you have bass reinforcement issues in the square area (eg kharma 3.2 or midi grand/Kharma sub). Invest the rest of your budget in software.

If you opt for high efficiency be very careful of your cabling and front end as it could make you very unhappy to have the Wadia or other currently "popular" dacs fronting that type of system. A better choice might be the Zanden or Weiss Medea. Cabling I've found to work well with Lamm and horns is Purist Dominus, Siltech Emperor, Kharma, Cardas GR.

In the price range you're looking at speaks to big, full range speakers. Just remember that big speakers have big problems, especially in certain rooms, and to identify what they are within the specific model you're considering and make sure you can live with those particular sets of tradeoffs in order to obtain the big full range sound you seek.

*Caveat: Have not heard this at higher volumes with ML2.1 though at lower to middle volumes they could be quite satisfying if you like the Wilson sound.

It hard to say. ML2 has it’s own issues (and partially if you “prefer to buy new”) and many speakers that might work with ML2 do have their own issues. Owl was correct insisting for over 100dB sensitively and high impedance for ML2. There is very little if any out there that might fit the bill.

Among the owl’s list:

Magico: they are ultimate foolish loudspeakers and they pretty much embraced all foolishness that an ignorant designer can stink into a loudspeaker.

Avantgarde Trio: have a lot of issues and might require a lot of work and experience to get a more or less civilized sound out of them. I doubt that it will be possible without a fundamental rebilling them.

Edgarhorn: it is hard to say. Bruce doe good speakers but au to the limited price point. Also, all of his customers are or dupes or juts not serious fools. No one even used Edgarhorn with ML2-level of electronics.

Siemens Klangfilms: Dispute to the flashy paranoia the recently was purely artificial created around them they are juts bad and none-interesting speakers with huge amount of problems and with complete inability of the speakers users to deal with them. This all is just a sweet audio myth and nothing else.

Tannoy GRF: The have some bass problems typical for dipole J-horns but they still listenable. Nevertheless I would not consider them as something around which I would bult a room. They are juts a very good drop in monitors.

Kharma Grand Ceramique: Unspeakably horrible loudspeaker with huge amount of problems. They have the worst in the industry ratio between the misery of sound and price.

Von Schveikert VR6: They are quite dead. Although I head them just once but I did not detect that they were in any way different then all the rest Schveikert’s speakers. You heard one-box speakers with a bunch of crappy driver then you heard them all.

Wilson Maxx2: I do not think that Wilson is the loudspeaker of ML2 level. Lamm in his web site suggests using ML2 with 94dB sensitively but it is he dose it juts to sell more of his amps. The largest Wilsons (Slams, Alexandria) surprisingly do not have this typical dynamic compression of the box loudspeakers but each of the still have a lot of issues for the price they cost.

I usually do not provide purchasing recommendations. However, in your case I would warn you that instead of buying a 50K worth not-well performing loudspeaker you might get a better cost-per-transaction yield if you spend 10K for some kind of Kharma3.2/GRF –level acoustic system and then work on the rest of you setup. For instance the Wadia front-end skew up sound much more aggressively than a bad loudspeaker. Also, beware about the new EMM gear – it might be quite dangerous thing.

I would suggest you visit Romy's site www.goodsoundclub.com
to learn more about the Lamm sound and to what extent he's gone to in developing a speaker system to truly get the most out of them.

Unfortunately, this is not a product you can just order at the dealer. The good news is he provides much of the information needed to build the system. With the usual high end retail being 5 times cost, Romy's speaker system would likely retail for 150K plus and is not easily duplicated due to the use of vintage drivers.

What about the Von Schveikert VR9 or the Acapella horns? Anyone have any experiance with those?
andy