Your favorite musical non fatiguing speakers?

Tannoy speakers regardless of price have always been very musical and enjoyable speakers. Could listen to them for hours. From the inexpensive Mercury line to the more expensive big Tannoy speakers my uncles have they sound great.

I think you should listen to the Proac line of speakers. I thought Harbeth were a little too laid back and Joseph too forward. Just my opinion. You might also want to go to an audio show before you buy to narrow down what you want to audition.

Silverline and Totem are 2 brands you can listen to 24/7.
B&W , to my ears, are torture machines.

OHM Walsh, slam dunk. Relatively affordable, always uniquely musical, never fatiguing.

Only One comes to Mind.
Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento

Dynaudio may require careful feeding in some cases to take off the edge. But once you do, these are hard to beat as well.

B&W, usually not my favorite cup of tea.

"OHM Walsh, slam dunk. Relatively affordable, always uniquely musical, never fatiguing."

Similar to Sennheiser headphones in this way.

Harbeth

If you have a large enough room and plenty of power, the Magnepan MG3.7i would be hard to beat. VERY musical and listening fatigue just isn't in their vocabulary.

Verity Audio Parsifal Encore's....you should be able to find a used pair in your price range.

Revel N208 or other higher end Revels...they are a Harmon product with state-of-the-art production facilities...they also measure extremely flat...they are known for a soft treble/warm midrange presentation. Vandersteen are known for an even deeper, spacious stage with mellow top.

My 3 favorites are: Sonus Faber, Focal (JM Lab) Utopia and up and Totem.

Yes, Magnepan is another worthy candidate if planars are your cup of tea.

Vienna Acoustics are a musical non fatiguing speaker!

Daedalus Audio speakers should definitely be considered IMO, although most of their models would only fit within your price range if bought used (and they appear for sale only occasionally).

Regards,
-- Al

I am also an Ohm Walsh owner, (2000) and fully agree with Mapman. I also think the Golden Ear Triton, although below your price range, punches above its price, and meets your requirements. I have yet to hear a speaker from Silverline Audio that I found harsh or fatiguing, although auditioning them can be difficult logistically. My brief auditions of Joseph Audio indicate that they are potentially candidates for you, but Jeff Joseph tends to push the SPLs way too high for me to have made a conclusive judgement. Another brand to audition would be Vienna Acoustics, which I have found pretty musical and smooth up top.

Ohm Walsh huh? I'll look into them. Revel and Golden Ear seem like good candidates too from what I've heard. Agreed about B&W's, I've owned them in the past and should know better.

I liked the Totem Forest signatures but thought they were overpriced at $6K. I'd like to hear the VA's but don't think anyone has them nearby.

If they weren't such an eyesore (or I was single), I'd buy the Maggie 1.7's or 3.7's in a heartbeat. Love the sound especially with the tube Cary preamp I'll be scoring with the insurance settlement.

Sadly beauty just in the ear of the beholder isn't enough for the married man.

Goldenear another good option. I prefer the Aeon monitors to full size Tritons myself at their price points. All use a folded ribbon tweeter that is completely non-fatiguing and most "polite".

Totem is more like Dynaudio to me. Fatigue is possible with some combos, even certain pricey ones. I am a big Totem Mani I fan but like Dynaudio gotta feed them properly. Same with newer element line models I have heard. McIntosh amplification for example was not a slam dunk in terms of having no edge when I auditioned.

I think of dynaudio as easy to listen to speakers. With any speakers though the electronics will have a huge impact.

My last pair Dunlavy SC III's and my current soundlab M2's would be my reply to that question;these 2 speakers are the best I have ever owned period.
I have driven each with tubes and solid state power; either power made them musical and very listenable for very long periods of time.

I second the Verity Parsifal Encore, owned them for 8 years. I now own Devore Gibbon 9s, which are no longer made, also very listenable for the long haul. And NEITHER of these speakers accomplishes this goal by being "soft" or "rolled off" or "too warm."

Harbeth SHL5's or 30.1's

I have the Ohm Walsh 5000 and I can listen all day.

I'm not ready to say it is my favorite yet, too many other speakers I'd like to hear. Darn Frazeur1 for talking up the Shahinians.

Shelby+Kroll Nano Monitors with matching Woofer Monitor!

What is musical to your ear?

MAGICO Q3 with Thoress tube preamp, Rowland 8T amp and Stealth V10 speaker wire.

JBL Everest dd67000 speakers with Tara labs Grandmaster Evolution speaker cables and interconnects.

Essence Electrostatic speakers

I love Verity. I've cycled through many of the above and they sound the best to me. Even up against the marketing machine companies like Wilson or Magico I think Verity shines. If I had real money I would probably own Rockports.

I'm curious to learn about your process and final decision. Please keep posting.

Definitely- Veritys.

Fritz LS 5/R (3500.00)

JBL 43XX studio monitors....as studio monitors should not be fatiguing at all....

What are the folks at Cary listening to?

http://www.tnt-audio.com/tours/cary_e.html

Unless you're thinking of near field studio monitors musicality in speakers is very subjective and of personal taste. Compatibility with the room may be a deciding factor.

Fatigue generally comes from the ability of the electronics and their interaction with the speakers. Electronics designers usually conceder their gear will mate with most speakers. Knowing what they used to listen to in their design process can be a huge advantage or at least a starting point.

In my personal experience:

1. Quad ESL 57 Listening to a refurbished pair now, and they are the most
non fatiguing I have ever heard.

2. Proac Response 2.5 Very close second. Might be up for sale though!

3. Dynaudio C1 Signature Not quite as non fatiguing as the others, but
delivers incredible dynamics, and soundstage.

Finsup,

If Shahinian design has appeal, and you like having lots of dynamic headroom, you might want to take a look at OHM Is. The refurb price for these is a steal when available.

Tip, Listen to the human voice talking,not singing, on a speaker.
On a good one the human voice will not have the hard edge we are so used to on speakers. It will sound soft, almost muted which is how it sounds in real life.

Then listen to a SOLO violin to make sure that sounds real.
Silverlines do this to a T .
Ohms may well do this as well, but so long since I heard one I don't trust my memory.

Actually the sales manager at Cary Audio recommended Dynaudio, Proac, Magnepan, and a few others (can't believe I wasn't taking notes!!).

I am going to put in another vote for Magnapan's, and I would also mention Harbeth's. Both very non-fatiguing sound!

Human voice is excellent test material for good sound in that we are inherently best equipped by nature to be able to recognize the sound of teh human voice more so than most anything else, plus the human voice can cover a broader range of frequencies more completely than most any other (man made) instrument.

Verity+++

Musical = Live music. To me, the most musical are those which reproduce the sound of live music. Pretty subjective, I guess. I don't worry too much about listener fatigue because (again for me) there are lots of supposedly high end speakers which "mute" the sound (especially on the higher frequencies) and no longer retain the characteristics of live music. Guess there's a happy medium. Cheers....

Everest 67000 yes, Tara no. There are smoother cables that deliver just as much detail as those.

Yes also on Verity.

Yes also on Tannoy as long as it is the "pepperpot" waveguide.

No on the Magico Q. It's all relative. Magico Q are non-fatiguing compared to an ice pick in the ear, but not compared to something like a Tannoy as long as it is a "pepperpot" Tannoy.

Tara cables are grossly overpriced.

Almost "Listener Fatigue" comes from your room acoustics. Sound travels approximately 1000 feet per second. The length of your room is 15ft~30ft. Sound waves from speakers bounce off walls 15~20 times before waves lose their acoustic energy. The listener hears 15-20 times more reflected sounds from walls and ceiling than direct sounds from speakers. Our brain and ears have to process 15-20 times more information than it needs to. Our brain becomes tired very quickly with so much acoustic information. Continuous echo sounds hurt your ears too.

Another reason for the listener fatigue is the speaker cabinet. Rigid speaker cabinet reduces unnecessary sound with music. Too rigid cabinet is not always good because the sound becomes analytic and not musical. A good speaker has internal speaker bracing strategically to make musical sound. The speaker designer has to refine the speaker with the trial and error process. It take years to make great speakers.

Is well designed speaker good in your home? Do you believe the speaker company is designing their speakers in your home environment?

The best way to control room acoustic is stop the sound before it reaches walls and ceiling. Or minimize it. Control the sound at the core of the sound source. The soundwave guide right in front of a speaker driver is a good way to control the room acoustic. That is a horn! Many people hate the sound of horn. There is a horn without the horn sound.

If the sound from a speaker is reached a wall and bounced back. The direction of sound is inward to listener. The sound is confined, muddy, and colored.

If the sound doesn't reach to a wall, the direction of sound is outward which is open, clear, transparent, and uncolored.

Not many speaker (if none at all) gives us a correct and clear feedback for our acoustic experiences. If we have the clear feedback, we can improve the sound of speaker and sound system very quickly.

Wavetouch speaker has no listener fatigue. Wavetouch speaker gives you a clearest and correct feedback. Even a person with zero experience of hi-end audio can hear the difference. Wavetouch speaker is a horn speaker without the horn sound. Wavetouch speaker is developed, tested, and inspected in small (15'x22' x 8'), medium (17'x 30' x 12'), and big room (36' x 44' x 14').

Alex
Wavetouch Audio

They are grossly overpriced, and grossly technically deficient. Tiny gauge for lots of money, ringing cables.

These Essence Electrostatic speakers are a MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH for speakers !...

They're in my home now. Aerial 10t. I test many records before selling and grading and play them upto whole day especially on weekends. Eeven music I don't like sounds great and no fatigue.

Wavetouch, what a load of horse _ _ _ _ you are spinning.

This includes the "almost all listener fatigue comes from your room acoustics".

Most listener fatigue comes distortion in the chain including speakers. That you have supposedly produced a speaker that has "no listener fatigue" is a claim so huge as well as dogmatic as to lose any credibility you were looking for.

I heard the Vienna Acoustic Beethoven Baby Grands and liked them. The whole time I was thinking something like this with the scale and size of a full floor stander would be better.

But it seems like the Baby Grand is better regard eroded than the concert grand. True?