Your thoughts on best audiophile speakers in $10,000 neighborhood?
I know the best way to select a speaker is to auditioon them at a dealer or in my own home. However, living in a rather rural area in northern Michigan, there's only one reputable dealer (Sonus Faber) in town so I may end up relying on reviews and your feedback.
I used to own Vandersteen Model 2Cs in the late 1980s, but finally want to step up my game. I currently have a legacy Nakamichi receiver / amp with 1000wpc, but will probably upgrade that once I select a new pair of speakers. Currently I'm playing mostly LPs on a Technics SL1210G. I now listen mostly with a Mark Levinson 5909 headphone connected to a small Class A pre-amp, so I treasure detail and transparency and don't lean toward "warm" speakers.
Room is good size since it encompasses living room and opens to dining room and kitchen behind it. Cathedral ceiling is about 12 feet high.
I'm considering the following speakers: Vandersteen Treo CT, Wharfedale Elysian 4 (perhaps too big for my room), Monitor Audio Gold 300 and the Sonus Faber Sonetto VIII. These all fit within my budget. What are your thought about any of these...or do you have others to recommend?
Thanks for whatever guidance you can give me.
The Yamaha NS5000 can be bought for that price (I did). Dealer is in Wisconsin, and I am in California. Search Results for “NS5000” | Hi-Fi Heaven (hifiheaven.net) This speaker can hold its own (and more) against the very best. This because no one can do the same thing with cone drivers that Yamaha has done. The coherence is incredible with all 3 drivers made from the same material. No one does that with cones. Ignore the Bookshelf designation. These need a mid to big room.
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@fredapplegate Here is a link to Vandersteen's $90k speaker. I have heard a variation of this a few years ago when Richard demoed it at a store in Los Angeles. Model Seven XTRM | Vandersteen Audio Looking at the description of the drivers it seems this particular Vandy speaker does not follow Yamaha's pattern. I went with the most expensive Vandy speaker. I have no time to check the others. |
The Vandersteen is not exactly the same idea as the NS5000, that is why I mentioned it in my first post. No cone speaker has all 3+ drivers with the same material. I hear something special when the bass driver is made with the same material as the tweeter. There is an incredible coherence to the sound. The price if the NS5000 reflects the economies of scale of Yamaha. |
As an FYI, as mentioned above the Paradigm Persona has beryllium on the tweeter and mid. I like that speaker a lot, but it needs warm gear. A very holographic sound and one I was seriously considering buying. The speaker I mentioned above, the Yamaha NS5000, is the successor to the Yamaha NS1000 made in the 1970’s. It was the FIRST speaker with beryllium for the tweeter and midrange. About 40 years before Paradigm invented it. The NS5000 has a material called Zylon that is supposedly lighter and faster than BE (or maybe the same). One difference is that Zylon is not poisonous like beryllium. Another thing is that Zylon can be made into a 12-inch woofer. I am only mentioning all this because I would have easily discounted Yamaha as a top end speaker before I did more research and heard it. The tech in this NS5000 is very impressive. They have money and people for R+D. |
