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what speakers to buy

so this is my 1st time posting. the question is what speakers. i am going into this blind trying to put together a decent system on a budget. i live in a city where bose is considered the high end of high end and the nearest audiophile shops are hours away.
over the years i have owned a lot of vintage gear and still collect some of it. solid state and tube. some of the tube gear was marantz, macintosh, dynaco, heathkit, radio craftsmen, pilot etc. also the usual solid state marantz, pioneer, kenwood, adcom. speakers jbl, polk, altec (model 19 and vott), paradigm, klipsch, bozak, sansui, AR, advent. all the usual suspects
so far i have purchased a copland tube pre cta-305 and a pair of rogue audio m180 amps. all mint condition all under a year old for under half price of new. i also have a denon DP-60L TT 
(with sumiko pearl cartridge)
speaker budget is around 5000 give or take a 1000. if i'm patient i think i can find something that was originally in the 12-20k price range for what i want to spend.
so far i am leaning towards ew andra ii, dali euphonia 800, canton reference 3.2, revel studio ii. size is also a factor and all of these are within that limit.
i have a fairly large area open concept living /dinning and breakfast nook with high ceilings.
and i know "dont buy without listening" but not an option
so looking for some opinions/options

after speakers i will be getting tuner, cd and music server, current interconnects and speaker wire are all ZU mission


dragonbutx

Showing 8 responses by gdhal

gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
You may want to check into something in the Golden Ear Technology Triton Tower line. https://www.goldenear.com/products/triton-series
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
Sorry, but I don't think GoldenEar makes anything that comes close to the Focal Utopia line. I don't even think their lineup sounds better than the Focal 900 series, except for maybe their Reference.

Apology accepted. Curious if you've heard the T Ref's. I'd suspect you haven't.





gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
@kosst_amojan

You raise interesting points regarding the AMT driver and the forward sound of the upper region. However, as a current owner of the Reference and former owner of the One I can tell you in my experience it is not "unnatural" or "ear-popping" by any means. Correct placement and/or room treatments is important though, but that too is the case with any speaker.

The OP claims he/she is looking for something in the 4 - 6K price range. Don't you think it's a bit unrealistic to even mention a Focal Utopia in this thread? If I'm not mistaken their top model is the grande utopia em and the MSRP on that is 200K or there about. If we come back down to earth, I still maintain anything in the GE Triton Tower line would be something for the OP to consider and would imagine (although I honestly can't say with first hand/ear experience) that the GE would best anything in the Focal line at the same price point.  
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
@gdhal, the Focal Utopia family has lots of models. An A'gon member suggested a pair of Utopia Alto Be's that are on A'gon with an asking price within the OP's budget.

@cycles2

I found/find the Focal website to be a bit "quirky" (i.e. difficult to readily find information, among other things). In particular, there didn't seem to be any pricing at all. Regardless, I'll stand by my assertion which is that dollar-for-dollar the Golden Ear Triton Tower lineup will best the Focal line. Even if I'm mistaken, the point of my post is that at a minimum, the OP should consider GE and make his/her own decision.

Liked the Sonus Faber the best but since I'm a bass hound ended up with a pair of PMC's which I'm pretty happy with.

@norton

Should the opportunity present itself, you may be interested to listen to the Triton Reference. Many of the speakers mentioned in this would require a separate quality sub (and likely two) to even come close to the bass/bottom of the T Refs. Despite what many believe, there is *plenty* of "sound" going on beneath 40Hz.
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
Wow. When shadorne becomes inflamed about you pushing brands, you know you have violated all objectivity.

Dave

Hi Dave. I'm certain you already know I truly enjoy your witticism. What you may not know is that I do at times follow the advice of others on the forum. And while I certainly could have engaged shadorne in some spirited back-and-forth, in this case, I'll simply "play in another sandbox". 
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
Focal, Revel, Golden Ear and similar ilk are like a hot and wild girlfriend. They’re great fun for a while, but not the ones you want to settle down with for the long haul.
I’ll settle down for the long haul anytime with a hot and wild babe. Same for my Golden Ear Triton Reference.

EDIT: Keep in mind many folks have a different interpretation of exactly how much time (days, weeks, months, years, decades, etc.) the long haul is :) I take it to mean years, not a "life time".
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
I really shouldn't have included GE on that list. For me, they don't even fall into the fun category.

I auditioned the GE Triton 1s and found they were more fatiguing than just about any speaker I've heard. My girlfriend plugged her ears before the first song ended. Maybe it was just some weird room anomaly, but that was my experience with a pair driven by a McIntosh amp.

That's fair. Don't buy them. Best of luck/times to you and your girlfriend. Presumably the two of you will be together for "the long haul".


gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
so looks like i agreed to buy a pair of legacy signature se speakers. going to pick them up next friday. think these will fit the bill. guess next weekend i will post my impressions and whether i feel i did ok or not. i'm pretty stoked about it. thanks everyone for all the great suggestions

Very nice! Best of luck with them.
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