As noted by others, I see a lot of responses which seem to be "what speaker do I like" as oppose to focusing on the timbral accuracy. In my experience, the most natural timbre I ever heard (by far) was from a pair of MBL 120's. Those are above this budget but there are used models that have the same "radialstrahler" driver technology.
What speaker – under $10k – has the best timbre and tonal qualities?
Several years ago, a prominent reviewer had this to say as he was praising the natural and life-like tonal qualities of a particular speaker:
It’s [speakers] like these that make me question the priorities of audiophiles who relegate accuracy of timbre to secondary status. How are the richness and color of instruments, voices, ensembles, and textures to be reproduced in all their infinite variety and beauty if a loudspeaker has less than accurate reproduction of timbre? What do dynamics, imaging, detail, transparency, and the like matter if voices and instruments don’t sound like themselves?
I’ve come the same realization, late in the game. I recently made a lateral move from one of the most popular of recent speaker models to a different speaker, because it sounded so much more natural and realistic in timbre. I sacrificed a touch of image precision in doing so, but it has been well worth it. The sound is so much more engaging. It’s like going from a high-resolution black and white photograph – which is very detailed and impressive – to a color version of the same photo, but with slightly less resolution. The color version offers so much more in terms of realism.
So I’m now contemplating the purchase of what I hope will be my last speakers, with the objective of realistic, natural, and rich (but not artificially warm) tone being the primary attribute.
What speakers, under $10k, would you recommend? (I’m driving them with a PrimaLuna Prologue Premium)
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@nyaudio98 @prof actually if you look through ALL the responses, while alot of speaker makes are mentioned, there are a few names that appear most frequently, so there is significant infomation value to the op in that... like most things in life, poll a crowd with sufficient sampling, and the truth regarding beliefs will emerge, outliers are identified as just that... another point is that different speakers using different designs CAN deliver what the op seeks, truth of tonality timbre and richness of sound |
You can get them from an authorized EU retailer and they are much more reasonably priced. The Anniversary editions are marked up quite a bit and the only published difference other than cosmetics is higher quality connectors and wiring. The soul comment from Harbeth referencing the sound quality between the anniversary and standard editions are that they sound a little better. |
If you can find them I would look around for a pair of Harbeth SHL5+ and pair them up with a decent sub or pair of subs. The Harbeths should come in around 3-4K. Best midrange and super tweeter speaker for the money coupled with a sub commit around 50Hz. What they’re made of is least important, it’s how they sound. |
I would buy used Legacy Signature IIIs or Focuses at $2K to $3K, respectively. Both will work well with your PL and give you great dynamics and with the Sig IIIs, open sound (rear ambiance tweeter). They also have room tone adjustments (bass, mids, tweeter) which most speakers don’t have. I will have to pay big bucks to get superior speakers. I don't like beamy speakers so the guy who mentioned original Quads-they are like giant headphones, nominal bass, dynamics, etc. |
Use Magico S1 https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis98ica-magico-s1-mk1-full-range For me, personally, I would not consider Maggies the best for tone and timbre, though many love them. I find I love them on some stuff, not on others, and that can even vary in a song depending on the instrument / voice.
That's called the room. The biggest impact on sound next to the speakers, and the two work in concert. For the op, speaker alone won't give you tone, timbre, and realism. You need to work on your acoustics too. |
“Timbre” and “tonal quality” are the characteristics that the OP values most. So a good definition of these qualities is a requirement. For me these attributes are what makes an instrument or voice sound like the instrument or voice that is actually is. What distinguishes these instruments is the amplitude and temporal relationships (phase) of the fundamental tone and the harmonics, as well as Initial note attack and decay. So you need a speaker that is not colored, and one in which the designer has factored in time coherence. You also need an amplifier capable of supplying that initial attack. I have found that Goldenear Triton One.R, Audio Physic Scorpio (now rare), ELAC, and Revel 228BE fill the bill. So does YG, but it’s out of your price range. I’m sure that there are many others - but no one has access to everything. |
mdiaz37 posts I've had many different brands over the years. My original Sonus Faber Extremas were hard to beat. I also like, at a more affordable price, the Merlin VSM SE's. I agree on the Merlin VSMs, they have arguably the BEST tweeter on the planet, the Dynaudio T330D. My VSMs are a little newer with the Cardas wire and they sound as accurate as anything I've heard. |
Second vote for Quad ESL-57s. I grew up playing first the violin (badly), then the piano (less badly), so have some notion of live instrument sound. First time I heard the Quads, in college in the late 60's, I was blown away by its reproduction of that sound, and have heard nothing since that can beat them. Robin Wyatt of Robyatt Audio puts on audio show demonstrations that consistently win best of show awards. He uses different turntables, tonearms, preamps, and amps but for the past decade he has used Quad ESLs (occasionally ESL63s) on the sharp end of the chain. |
Before you buy more speakers, place them between four and five feet tweeter to tweeter and tow them to get a coherent ambiant field on a simply miked classical record. Over spread whitens and weakens the timbre and discombobulates the image of the sound field as a whole. You'll learn to hear the richness as wholeness as you experiment. Happy listening. |
I've been a fan of planar speakers since the early Magnepans and a pair of Crown ES212s that I owned back in the day. I prefer a system with transparency, precise imaging and timbre and currently own a pair of Martin Logan 11As powered by a Bel Canto E1X amp. I also tried the Bel Canto REF600Ms, but they weren't quite as detailed as the E1X. The downside to this system, as others have pointed out is that you really hear what the recording is like. Many, many recordings sound flat and unbalanced. But—when an excellent sound engineer has been in charge of recording a stunning performance, it's simply magical. And one other thing... The ML 11As have the capability to use Anthem Room Correction (ARC). Before I ran this software on the speaker I had an annoying hump around, maybe 100Hz, possibly lower. I know that it was in the woofer range and not the panels. I suspect it was a resonance in the bay window near the speakers. After I ran the software and downloaded the custom filter that hump was gone. Absolutely fantastic technology. I have an electrical engineering degree, so I understand how they did this and think it's a superb solution. |
Poster...... This is solid gold......... 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? |
@ hoosierinohio, "I have since found a more full color sound with old speakers from the 50’s." You’re not alone in that opinion. Far from it. Without extensive measuring techniques they must have relied more upon listening back then. Some of today’s best designs still try to emulate the best from the 50s albeit with less colouration. Zu audio are definitely one who places impression over measurment. They even had a model called Zu Tone! Alas another brand difficult to hear in the UK. Detail yes, but not sterile detail. Accuracy yes, but not sterile accuracy. |
If you are looking for truth and accuracy in sound, I would look at my Verdant Blackthorn 1. Don’t take my word for it. Look at Andrew Quint’s (The Absolute Sound) AXPONA coverage from 2019 when he covered speakers under $20K. The other speaker I would look at is Audiovector. The R1 will roll up under $10K, the R3 is $10K without freedom grounding. Again, Check out Andrew Quint’s review from earlier this year. |
Forget about it. If you’re looking for the best of both worlds there’s going to be a compromise. Pick your line and roll with it. You like these new speakers because they’re more natural so enjoy them. I know we’re all addicts here. Do what I do. Have 2 systems, 1 dedicated to rock, preferably active with low distortion and another system for the better recordings where the hyper detail doesn’t suck the life from the music. |
In terms of accuracy of timbre, the speakers under $10K who deliver (that I’ve listened to) are: - Martin Logan (Spires, Montis) - Yamaha NS-1000(M) - Tannoy Westminster As a musician, that has always been my number one expectation of my audio system. I used to own Yamaha NS-1000 (a few decades ago). I went through several changes of speakers until I auditioned ML Spires against Tannoy Westminsters. While I really liked the Tannoy’s, they are very different to the MLs. Not better, just different. I ended up with the ML’s as I felt that they more accurately reflected the tonal qualities I was expecting. If the ML’s weren’t in the picture, then I could have happily lived with the Tannoy’s. YMMV. |
+1 for GR Research - the NX-Extremes are excellent on their own, but paired with a set of servo subwoofers (2) I think would be virtually unbeatable at the price (and probably any price). Danny is a great guy and is very responsive to email, etc. His YT channel is definitely great if you're interested in the science of it, and he actually takes speakers people send him, measures them, gives feedback on their strengths and weaknesses and then determines if an upgrade path is achievable. Often times, he redesign the crossover or suggests filtering to reduce baffle reflection, etc. |
The problem is - there is a relationship between many of the common audiophile descriptors and timbre. It's is one of the most difficult to portray accurately without a fairly high level of detail retrieval, driver to driver cohesiveness, dynamics, etc. on top of that, you need a quite high quality system to allow a speaker to portray timbre accurately. And, of course excellent recordings. That said, there are very few speakers (with associated gear and music) that I've heard that capture the tonal accuracy (or timbre) of instruments well. And <$10K, even fewer. IME only the largest of Wilsons are capable and Magico M series most certainly does. Another is Vivid Giyas (I bought them) and Vandersteen 7s. At <$10K new, the Magico A3 is good, the smaller Vivids and possibly the smaller Vandys albeit I haven't heard Richard's newer models. |
I own Liberty Audio X-VOX Loudspeakers and love them! The Spatial's are getting a lot of attention as well... Wig Loudspeaker Break in revealed - YouTube Hi-fi Stereo | 11 Stereo |
I don't believe you mentioned the kind of speakers you presently have. Have you heard a pair of SALK speakers? I heard a pair at the RMAF in Denver a couple years ago, and the impressed me the most at the show. They played everything well. Jim Salk sells direct in order to user higher end drivers and cabinet build so he doesn't have to discount his speakers to the dealers. However, the problem is having the ability to hear them other than listen to them at audio shows because he manufactures his speakers in MIchigan. You will love this guy. |
I have a pair of Cube Audio Nenuphar Mini’s on order. Everything I’ve read about these has been amazing so I’m really looking forward to them. It’s a major splurge for me but I’m going for it. They’re a bit over 10k but might be what you’re looking for. The Spatial X5’s or M series were also on my list but they’re too big for my space and I know my wife would be all over me about that and I don’t want to deal with that. If you’re interested in the Cubes check out reviews online. They also have the Magus speaker for a bit less and I might know where you can get a mint used pair of Mini’s. I wanted a pair in walnut so I passed on the black used ones but if you pm me I’ll let you know if you’re interested. |
