Hello Ty!
I suggest you start by going to a showroom and listening to some speakers WITH the brand/approx price range of the AMP you own or intend to buy. Many times amp families have a “house sound”—they have similar sonic characteristics. At the price point you are looking at, most gear will not be neutral, so getting gear that complements each other’s strengths and weaknesses is a good idea. When you find a sound that pleases you, check out what interconnects and speaker wires they are using also. Everything adds to the coloration of your system.
Those b&w 802 are very nice speakers. You would need plenty of power in your amp to drive them well. The thing about great speakers, they reveal very well the strengths and weaknesses of your system!!! So you may get great speakers, but if you are driving them with so-so gear, you WILL hear that the gear is crappy. Its important to match quality.
For vintage gear, for good matches, if you like, say the 802s, then read the professional reviews from back in the day. When you see a stellar review, note the amp, the interconnects, the speaker wires they used in their system and then go buy that set up.
20 years ago, we went to a showroom to listen to gear—with a very well produced CD that had vocals, solo horns, a solo violin, a choir and an orchestra. We tried the same 5 minutes with multiple brands in the $2-4K price range, until we found a pr that did justice to the music the way WE liked it. Then we asked the dealer to recommend a good matching amp. We went home with “last year’s” AMP for less than half price of new and have enjoyed the speakers since, even as we upgraded amps and wires.
We bought Vienna Acoustic Beethoven’s. They were Stereophile B-rated speakers in their day. You can still find them used every so often. They are very musical speakers that do a great job with jazz, small-ensemble classical, and rock. They are small enough to work in a living room. And they are forgiving of mid-fi gear, yet are resolving enough to keep up with much better gear than your budget allows. I’m running them with a vintage amp—Mufi KW 500, ($8k new) and they sound superb. When I bought them, the dealer suggested the flagship Yamaha amp (midfi, solid state and had a built in phono preamp that worked well with 70s era pioneer Turntables).
Happy Hunting!
I suggest you start by going to a showroom and listening to some speakers WITH the brand/approx price range of the AMP you own or intend to buy. Many times amp families have a “house sound”—they have similar sonic characteristics. At the price point you are looking at, most gear will not be neutral, so getting gear that complements each other’s strengths and weaknesses is a good idea. When you find a sound that pleases you, check out what interconnects and speaker wires they are using also. Everything adds to the coloration of your system.
Those b&w 802 are very nice speakers. You would need plenty of power in your amp to drive them well. The thing about great speakers, they reveal very well the strengths and weaknesses of your system!!! So you may get great speakers, but if you are driving them with so-so gear, you WILL hear that the gear is crappy. Its important to match quality.
For vintage gear, for good matches, if you like, say the 802s, then read the professional reviews from back in the day. When you see a stellar review, note the amp, the interconnects, the speaker wires they used in their system and then go buy that set up.
20 years ago, we went to a showroom to listen to gear—with a very well produced CD that had vocals, solo horns, a solo violin, a choir and an orchestra. We tried the same 5 minutes with multiple brands in the $2-4K price range, until we found a pr that did justice to the music the way WE liked it. Then we asked the dealer to recommend a good matching amp. We went home with “last year’s” AMP for less than half price of new and have enjoyed the speakers since, even as we upgraded amps and wires.
We bought Vienna Acoustic Beethoven’s. They were Stereophile B-rated speakers in their day. You can still find them used every so often. They are very musical speakers that do a great job with jazz, small-ensemble classical, and rock. They are small enough to work in a living room. And they are forgiving of mid-fi gear, yet are resolving enough to keep up with much better gear than your budget allows. I’m running them with a vintage amp—Mufi KW 500, ($8k new) and they sound superb. When I bought them, the dealer suggested the flagship Yamaha amp (midfi, solid state and had a built in phono preamp that worked well with 70s era pioneer Turntables).
Happy Hunting!