What speaker – under $10k – has the best timbre and tonal qualities?

Hello,
I don’t hear Proac speakers mentioned a lot. Very nice sound. Also, for another box speaker the Tekton has the open sound of the Maggie’s and the mids and bass to fill the range. The Proac are for normal volume listening. 

I’m selling a pair of Sonics "Allegrias" I don’t know for the $$ if these can be beat! Top of the line German handmade speakers by Joachim Gerhard! Maybe a consideration at 20+ thousand USD but offered at $7900 barely broken in I feel they can’t be beat! Honest opinion Thx, Jim Listing ID: lisa6cfb
I did have subs with these noticing that the bottom although there, is not enough for my taste! Aside from that good luck matching these for the price...I have listened to many sets of speaks before buying I was blown away at the clarity of voice instrumental and piano, guitar we put on a CD last night and was asking myself why I am selling? We moved into a smaller home and they need a bigger room the soundstage is expansive you could play these in a church Holy Crap pardon the pun :) They are known for that, last home had over 20’ my living room now is 13’ and it needs a wall mounted sound bar to be honest! We live in Maine bring a CD/DVD best of luck! I am using MIT Matrix 3.5s cables and those are listed as well, maybe package deal for the right money I am willing to talk :) I was told by "sunny" when I bought my Class "D" amp Arcam AVR 750 doesn’t do it justice at 400 watts...so with that being said if you are sporting Class "A" monoblocks I would actually luv to hear them but prob won’t sell and end up returning home with them...Happy Holiday’s People!!! I will add Watching a movie with these is insane...Talk about Timbre hahahaa someones gets shot you jump, scary movies you’re screwed, the kids will leave the room I promise!!! If you close your eyes listening to Michael Cohn you can picture the instruments where they are situated on stage thats how much separation these achieve even with 38 pole cables I can’t Imagine Oracles or better...Don’t have the $$ to buy those so never got the chance to hear at that level...Noticed that this post was from 2015 hope your not still looking Geeze LOL

If you want to do it yourself, I build 2 big box for the Altec coaxial 604e + super tweeter and I test with many amps, and I love this speakers always do neutral in reproduction a magnifying glass of what an amp can do. Presently I test an old integrated Sima PW-3000, a 5 watts classe A and 50 watts AB total, I am bluffed the song play clean with good timbre, space and bass clean too, I think it's always have a good sinergy,

Wharfedale Elysian 4. Awesome

+1 for devore 0/93s

ATC

Surprised nobody has mentioned the Spatial Audio Lab X5. At 97db sensitivity, you should have plenty of power with your Prima Luna. Open baffle design, very natural tonality once broken in and set up properly. 60 day in-home trial. I am very pleased with mine (Rowland amps, tubed BHK pre). I did listen to the Saphires, but found them to be too forward for my tastes (detail and imaging, yes; timbral accuracy, no). 
https://www.spatialaudio.us/xseries/x5

How about under $1k?  The Caintuck open baffles are incredible.  I heard these matched with a Decware SET amp and holy shnikies.  Listened to some Brubeck on these and you would have sworn you could go over and shake the man's hand when the song ended.  That said, I understand room treatment is much more important and part of where the bass comes from is reflecting off the floor surface.  You need a hard floor is my understanding to get these where they can go.  From there I go to the old stuff to find the 4k, full color sound that I seek.  I get what you are saying about going from black and white to 4k full color.  Another aspect is listening volume.  In many cases, black and white is easy until you hit a certain volume with a speaker and then it seems like all drivers are firing and takes the music from black and white to color.  Had some maggies that were absolutely the most clear black and white I'd ever heard.  I found these in the long run, fatiguing to listen to, for a long period of time.  I have since found a more full color sound with old speakers from the 50's. 

Amazing how very few mentions there are of Klipsch. Just about anything in their Heritage series, Cornwall 4's or lower would fit the bill nicely, especially since he is running a tube system. Tubes really shine when not fighting low efficiency speakers.

Check out Danny GR Research. He mods many speakers XOs which seems to be the Achilles Heel of most speaker companies. He has a YT channel you might want to watch a few episodes


He also has some speakers that he bought a container full and is selling them at a great price

Personally, I have Emerald Physics 3.4s (not longer made) they have a 12" concentric driver with a polyester tweeter.  MSRP was ~ 6K, you might find them or 2.8s for a great price used

Also +1 to whomever mentioned Spatials, I'm an open baffle fan


hth

I’m not sure if you’re looking for towers or bookshelves, but after listening to a decent range of speakers, Salk and Fritz speakers consistently evoke the word "honest" when I listen to them. In a musical piece, the represented instruments -- whichever they are -- consistently remind me of the live occasions in which I’d heard them played, and the vocalists seem immediate and present in my room, to a startling degree.

Tekton Encore

You can’t rely on millercarbon for speaker advice because he rates all Tekton speakers very high even if he hasn’t listened to them. You want to have somebody that actually has heard or owned the equipment before giving any advice.
As for good quality speakers used for under $10k, I would look at Wilson, revel, usher, totem, golden ear, and and Others.

@1111art,

"The most expensive Dali you can find/afford. So rich I can’t seem to listen with my eyes open"

Another contender for the ’must listen to’ club.


@wester17 ,

"Ahh yes! The audio merry-go-round. I’m truly ready to get off. Over the past two weeks I have sold three sets of speakers and a tube amplifier. The basement looks so much more uncluttered now! It actually feels good!"


Can’t say I blame you. This hobby has a strange way of turning from pleasure into pain, and then sometimes back again.

It sure sounds as if you’re ready to get back into your music again.

Tonal accuracy rather than pursuit of detail is the way to go. I’m sure of it.
One = pleasure, the other = analysis.

You won’t go far wrong with Tannoys but you might also be able to do a smidgen better with something else. @prof has written extensively on this subject so it might also be worth reading some of his posts.

Anyway, what are you using currently? It might possibly help those who are a little further up the same mountain path give you a few pointers.

Magnepan 3.7i in a decent room using SS high current amp.

Tannoy speakers, the upper range, are well known for what you are looking for.

What is best for tone and timbre is so dependent on ones hearing that I believe it impossible to generalize across the population, and i feel that none of us knows this for themselves. We only know what we like from what we have experienced. 

Ahh yes! The audio merry-go-round. I’m truly ready to get off. Over the past two weeks I have sold three sets of speakers and a tube amplifier. The basement looks so much more uncluttered now! It actually feels good!

No suggestion here.
Without glomming onto the word "best" in your subject line, the body of your post described your experience and goal quite clearly and reminiscent of my experience.

If your like me I’m guessing you may have ridden the audio merry-go-round for a time.
Faced with the reality that a thirty minute listen of the multiple products at an audio show or in stores is nothing like that first dissatisfied listen at home as the fear of the possibility system synergy could add to the cost of your resent purchase and still not reach the goal you’ve heard, just not at home.

Like you I made a not so lateral change to an unaffordable new speaker at the time which was suggested by someone I later learned is an industry professional. Years past until I could afford his suggestion used and bingo. That was thirteen years ago.

All the BEST in your search.
M

The title question is so subjective that everyone will have a different opinion.  In my case, it is Spendor D series.  D9.2 can be found for under $10k.

Good question.  Part of the equation comes from the components.  Tube, SS, etc.  Some speakers have better bass, some are more open sounding but without the upstream components the sound can vary greatly.  Tone to me comes from the source.  IN manufacturing components I can change the sound completely with capacitors (think oil or copper caps), resistors think Audio Note non-magnetic, silver, etc. TO me the speaker has an impact on the sound but tone IMOP comes from your components. Have you ever heard a speaker sound poorly and then hear the same speaker somewhere else sound much better?

Happy Listening.

The most expensive Dali you can find/afford. So rich I can't seem to listen with my eyes open

JBL S3900

Harbeth 40.2’s or 30.1’s, but you will need to drive them with a good SS amp - preferrably a Hegel. Though, I also drive mine with a $700 Class D Audio SDS 470C - and they sound about the same with it as the Hegel.

Or... Spatial Audio M3 Saphire... with some great tube amps.

Or... Maggie’s also with a great SS amp, and possibly some REL Subs.

Just shop AG and USAM, buy low try at home and resell un til you get a taste for how each reacts to your listening room and components.

One  amp/speaker combination that I heard and think comes close to what your looking for was the Devore O/93s driven by a Line Magnetic 845 SET integrated.  

I own Tannoy Sterlings, the Turnberrys are the bigger brother at $8000. I let room size dictate the Sterlings. 

Anything in that price range from Magnepan will be better than anything else you find, but listen IN YOUR ROOM to whatever you pick before you buy.

Cheers!

ATC SCM 19A.  Then ditch the PrimaLuna.  Done

There are boxes and there are panels. I've owned both. Some large, some not-so-large, some efficient and dynamic, some polite and restrained. But the question at hand is timbre and tone. And here to my ear, the choice is simplified. A box will always sound like a box. There are some pretty sweet boxes out there, but at the end of the day, that box sound, however mitigated, remains. Panels, Martin Logan and Magnepan specifically, require attention to electronics (hint: current is your friend) and even more attention to room placement, but properly set up, and for timbre and tone, they are unmatched. 

Also the Devore Super 9s. I’m running then with a PrimaLuna HP Integrated and they are very involving speakers. Just shy of $10k. 

Lots of love for The DeVore Orangutan O/93
Not sure if your PrimaLuna Prologue Premium (integrated?) has 16ohm outputs to try.

I haven't heard the cube audio offerings, but they are one modern option that falls into the above category:

https://refinedaudio.com/collections/cube-audio

You might consider reading about the speakers SET lovers prefer. It's a group that focuses directly on the qualities you appear to be after. As pointed out above, many of the suggestions seem to be for "my favorite speakers" not speakers that meet your desired criteria.

I’m not bringing anything anywhere most of these speakers mentioned are far from realistic, natural and not artificially warm sounding. Never heard the Meridians but they always looked interesting. Joseph Perspectives 2 are very natural sounding for a passive a little light in the bass, might find some used for 10K.

Sweetwater in Indiana. Dutch and Dutch 8c  are very good but not as neutral sounding to me. 

yo, djones51 are you bringing all that asr stuff over to ag? I really don't know why revels from the performa 3 and newer sound so generic to me? maybe because I listen t 2 channel stereo and the later waveguides seem to diffuse the soundstage idk, tonally they're ok a little light  in the bass, but most use subs these days anyhow.

I would love to hear some Genelec powered speakers, but where?

For realistic, natural and not artificially warm or neutral being the primary attribute it's going to be very hard to surpass Genelec the Ones. In a passive speaker around 10K maybe Revel 228be. 

Twoleftears agree, why it’s always good to audition, and understand there is no such Speaker can give the listener all the accolades he prefer, This hobby need a lot of time to listen,.

Here we go again. I bought a used pair of meridian dsp 8000’s they cost what a $10k investment in speakers then add whatamp,pre and dac would cost and it’s to my ears the most natural sound i’ve gotten. I had to turn the bass down a few ticks, but the detail is all there just in the music , not in front of it. D&D, Kii3.

@wester17  The problem with some of the replies here is that the posters are not reading your OP carefully and noting the particular characteristics you require, but rather are just listing their favorite brands.  Consequently, you will need to exercise caution with some of the recommendations.

@audioguy85,

'I prefer the tannoy sound. Natural, warm, non-fatiguing, addictive to listen to.'


Me too, though there are some very good reports regarding the Joseph Audio Pulsars.

And this from a while back. No ultimate consensus but possibly some good information.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/best-loudspeakers-for-rich-timbre?highlight=Rich%2Btimbre

I hear you Wester. When I did my intensive speaker search many years ago I found lots of brands that did the audiophile checklist well but just did not sound “right” in the way you (and I) consider important. After listening to literally dozens of speakers two dynamic speakers emerged—Harbeth and Daedalus. Other types like Quad ESL and Sound Lab also hit the mark but brought with them other requirements that I wasn’t able to meet so ended up with Daedalus and am now on my third pair.

realistic, natural, and rich (but not artificially warm) tone being the primary attribute.  

Genelec 8351b. If you need more bass get a couple of genelec smart subs and GLM. 

Used Vimberg,Rocport or Magico jump on a pair ASAP.

I don’t know if one speaker will be able to produce all the right timbre of any instruments. iME my Andra using tube amps , piano sounds piano, I believe they were voice with  piano .My Technics c700 Sb Speaker Acoustic and string they sound real , using Plinius sa 100 amp , My Diapason Speakers using viva amp every instruments and voice all sounds real.My ps 12 Tekton is very close timbre on diapason.I did have to really listen a lot and use the right matching to get the right timbre for every systems I have , I takes a lot of listening experience to achieve the right timbre . Maybe why I end up having four system, If I would like to listen to piano, I go with Andra.The focal Kanta I heard at Music direct I like the timbre of that speakers they are using esoteric gear Audioquest pc and wireworld Speaker wire the expensive one Iam not sure if they are platinum.Its also very important to use good recording.I have reference cd by Gary Karr title Double bass , this cd make all my systems sounds so real.l

  "has the best"

That's where you lose me. Who is qualified to tell your ears it's hearing "the best"?

Upgrade your PL PP to an EVO or used Dialogue, and you'll get more of what you're liking. All those speaker recommendations  are "the best"

The PL will drive most anything out there, Your ears will tell you what's "best" Look for home demo/return policy deals.

If used speakers are on the list and you're willing to look at some less-than-typical speakers, nothing I have seen comes close to the realism of JBL M2s.  They require DSP and lots of amplification, but I have seen whole systems, amps and DSP included, for around 12-13K.  The speakers themselves should be able to be found for <10K per pair.  I mix on them for a living and they are the first speakers I have ever heard that come close to replicating what my microphones are hearing in the live room.without knowing what the recording chain is there is no way of telling what you're hearing is an addition or subtraction to the real performance by real musicians in a real space.  M2s are unique in tat regard.

What high-quality loudspeakers, in your price range, are available for audition where you live? Harbeth sounds like a good suggestion, but that does not help much if no local dealers carry them and you cannot arrange an in-home demo. The USA distributor is at Fidelis (New Hampshire); maybe they would ship you a demo pair for in-home trial. 

You might want to consider electrostatic or planar magnetic loudspeakers. Major brands include Martin Logan and Magnepan. Smaller, boutique brands include Sanders and JansZen. JansZen only sells direct and will ship speakers to you for a 30-day in-home trial.  

yes, definitely Moab...hehehehe. Idiocy.