Speakers for string Quartets

I have KEF Reference 5 speakers (not the brand new Meta version).  I love string music, especially cellos.  I am amazed at the realistic way these speakers reproduce the woody sounds of cellos, violins and violas.  They’re not cheap although big discounts are available now that there’s a revised model.  The KEF Reference 3 has similar sound characteristics with a little  less bass at a lower price.  I’m really eager to hear the new meta version.

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Agree with Sailboat & zgas.  I too spend much time listening to live performances of small ensemble string & piano.  Nothing will qet you closer to reality than Quads.  My 63s are highly modified but stock speakers will be magic if properly set up.  Match them with Spectral electronics if you can.  If you need dynamics & high volume look elswhere or get a second system.

Stradivarius.....jk... Big string quartet fan here, and I love my Harbeth P3 ESR XD's in my desktop setup. I bet their bigger brothers would sound terrific in your large room. I also love a ton of jazz and the Harbeth's really capture the intimacy and warmth of that genre as well. I had an opportunity to see the Borodin String Quartet perform the entire Shostakovich string quartet cycle over the course of 3 days, some years ago. It was truly a life-changing experience.

Why people use a subwoofer with magnepan i cannot understand. Put the money from the sub into your amp. Magnepan has the most natural instrumentale  bas not a pumping low instrumental low. And if you want the best musical low buy the dwm from magnepan.

Jazz piano genius Fred Hersch has a recent album with his trio and a string quartet...friggin' great stuff. I recently bought a Pass XA25 to see what that was all about and man, it's GREAT...giving my SEP Tube amp a rest. Freya, SA25, Klipsch Heresy IIIs  (I like the titanium midrange better than the new IV version) and 2 REL subs (the 2014th time I've mentioned this stuff)...strings for days along with anything else I throw at 'em, from Hindemith to Little Feat...who knew?

Besides Harbeth, you should definitely audition Spendor (but be sure it's the Classic line, you're more likely to find different lines that sound, well, different in stores), and Graham.  Unfortunately, neither Spendor Classic nor Graham are as easy to hear in the US as Harbeth.

Try Italian speakers.

Spendor SP100.

As almost always is the case, the answer is Magnepan.

I like big Tannoys for acoustic instruments. They will play anything well but brass and strings and voice sound really good with my Tannoys. 

Couple of things: If you're interested in British BBC-heritage monitors, do read Robert E Greene's reviews at TAS online. He is a violinist and has reviewed many of those speakers. That could help you choose among them.

I don't disagree with @mahgister that acoustics of the room are important. That wasn't your question, but it does pay dividends.

Listen to some sax quartet music as well

I had Quad ESL 57's for 20 or more years and about 4 years ago switched to Harbeth 40.1's. Never looked back. The Harbeth's are very transparent and neutral and having a lot of amp power certainly helps.

I have the Graham Audio LS 5/9 and they are really great with string quartets, also with Jazz they are sublime.

If in a big room, they need a strong amp, meaning a good power supply.

Also I find that they sound great on low volume.

Good luck with your search.

Tannoy Prestige. Absolutely loved the tone, body, and texture of string instruments and piano I got from my Turnberry SE, especially after replacing the crossover parts with high quality stuff. Surpassed the Sonus Faber Cremona M they replaced by a pretty wide margin in those aspects. Also the scale!

They are pretty high sensitivity and easy load so your amps should have no problem driving them.

@caglioti 

I just came upon this post, so I am late to the party. I am utterly devoted to string quartet music, and it has always been a significant factor in my selection of equipment. I’ve personally owned Magnepan, Quad ESL 57s, small bookshelf speakers (not out of the BBC mold) and full range floor standers.

I’ve found that speakers that exhibit anything less than superb coherence will be a distraction, if not an annoyance. Pay particular attention to crossover frequencies. Magnepan speakers, for all their virtues, in my experience all exhibit an obvious transition between tweeter and midrange as a violin descends in frequency. This manifests itself both spatially, where the violin moves in space, and qualitatively, where the difference between the sweetness and purity of the ribbon and the lack thereof in the midrange draws attention to itself. I’ve also heard this in some monitors, where beryllium tweeters are used. They are so fast and clear that the descent into the midrange produces a similar lack of coherence.

Pay particular attention to how instruments are presented in space. This is another area where Magnepan speakers have issues that can be exposed by small ensembles and even more so by a single instrument. The Bach sonatas, as example, sound as if they are being played with a 7 foot long violin. Most decent monitors, floor standers, and the Quad ESL 57 will get this right, or at least better, than Maggies. For me at least, it is two strikes and you are out on Maggies for quartets.

Speaking of Quad ESL 57s, I bought a nice pair of fully rebuilt 57s several years ago based on recommendations from several people whose opinions I deeply respect. A couple of those people are professional musicians. Honestly, I was disappointed. I have Atma-Sphere M-60s, which are a preferred amplifier for these speakers, and yet I just couldn’t get them to work for me. Perhaps they are not right for my room. The midrange is very nice, but I could not get beyond the lack of extension at high and low frequencies. In my opinion, you need that extended high frequency to properly capture the strings. Those upper harmonics are really essential. However, if you or anyone else wants to give a pair of 57s a try, I would part with them at reasonable cost.

The best I’ve heard for quartets in my own system is a pair of Coincident Super Victory II speakers with rebuilt crossovers. These feature a ribbon tweeter that crosses over fairly high, a 7" mid, and a 12" woofer that rolls off at about 26 Hz. The speakers are nicely coherent. There are no clues evident what the music transitions between drivers. Instruments (and voices) are presented with realistic spacial clues. In a well treated and well set up room, imaging is superb. I can at times hear the first and second violins as instruments separated in space. This is something I wouldn’t normally hear even in a live venue. BTW, that should always be ones absolute reference. I trust you are a frequent attendee at live chamber.

The largest downside with my Coincident floor standers is that the midrange is not the most refined I have heard. I suspect that a top notch smaller midrange, perhaps a 5" or smaller, would do much better in this regard.

I don’t think that your leaning in the British direction is unreasonable. I think that the ability to audition is going to be very important for you, unless you are willing to go used and buy and sell until you find what you are looking for.

Good thread! Keep us posted.

I have been a musician nearly all my life and also a HI Fi nut. I am very into string quartets and have had various ensembles to play them back. My first real forage into chamber music playback was a pair of Stacked Quad ESL 57s. They were much more dynamic than a standard pair of speakers and that midrange was magical. They certainly were no good when they were trolling the depths of the cello ( Fried a few panels and cost a good few Quid.) I got rid of the quads and then went to Rogers LS35As along with a REL sub which was much more successful albeit the Rogers needed lots of watts to give a decent sound and perspective. After a few years with that setup I then scraped up enough to purchase a pair of ATC SCM40 speakers and that was when happiness set in at last the cello shone. To put a bit of perspective on things I am very acquainted with live string quartet playing having gone to the Edinburgh festivals for 40 years and heard many many quartets, Amadeus, Alban Berg, Edinburgh, Tacacs, and many more and the ATC's seemed to capture that special sound of quartets and also the intimacy of them.