Good Speakers for Rock and Roll Under 15K


I have nice speakers for acoustics, jazz, vocals, etc. but are not great for rock and roll.  Would welcome any recommendations for speakers that do a great job with classic rock and roll.  I will add some components in my system that might influence thinking:

New Audio Frontiers Tube Preamp, New Audio Frontiers 845 Tube Power Amp, Lampizator Atlantic DAC, Innuos Zenith Streamer, Tchernov cables.

gregjacob

Designers of course try and design the best speaker they can to serve their Co’s ethos and their brand’s demographic, but I’m not sure all well-designed speakers work equally well for all genres. I can’t imagine using Magnepans or Quad’s for rock.. or techno.. or dubstep, etc. I love Maggie’s.. have owned them.. but those panels will last you about a month under heavy use with a high current amp until the panels start to separate and need to be serviced. Mine typically lasted about 2-3yrs before they needed service (with moderate listening on all types of music).

I don’t listen to rock anymore.. nothing goes to 11 here now.. but have returned to cone speakers for various other reasons. Some speakers just don’t work well for certain types of music. MBL’s.. amazing for orchestral.. but not for rock (..unless you are the type of concert goer that wants to stand at the rear gates.. then maybe via MBL you will get the most nuanced and delicate rock you’ve ever heard at home).

I recommended horn speakers further up the thread.. because that’s what we are listening to at a rock concert.. horn loaded systems (we obviously don’t mind the effects of the horn, here), and they might pair well with the gear in original poster's system. The contrary would be for a ’live at...’ type of recording.. if you want to accurately reproduce that live concert.. without listening to ’horns playing horns’ ..where you get into some sort of ’audiophile’s hell’ recursive horn paradox.. then maybe ATC or the GR Researches recommended early on in the thread.. I’d guess they’d be good.. but my feeling is many low-sensitivity ’audiophile’ boutique speakers will not do rock the way the actual recording artists would ever want to listen to it.

@deep_333 

"There is no such thing as truly excellent crap that worked brilliantly for any kind of music."

That is a strange opinion. I have had quite a few speakers, large and small that were very satisfying with every type of music. I don't know what your yardstick is...a fraternity beer blast?

 

@ roxy54,

You are correct about the Volti speakers.  I was wrong, I was thinking of another brand.

That is a strange opinion. I have had quite a few speakers, large and small that were very satisfying with every type of music. I don’t know what your yardstick is...a fraternity beer blast?

@roxy54

"Very satisfying" eh?...My yardstick is that I’ve been proficient in playing a couple of instruments for 40+ years (violin, piano...can also slam with a guitar if i have to) and may have a better idea about how artists think, how things sound in real life, etc.

I have owned different kinds of "high end" speakers and know that different kinds of speakers sound better or worse at any price bracket for specific genres of music.

What’s your yardstick? Let me take a wild guess (kinda like how you did about the frat house beer blast n all).

a) 4 to 5 "audiophile" records on repeat all year with emphasis on "female vocals" for listening to your gear? lol (That’s about the extent of your playlist?). If a great artist has a suboptimal (non audiophile) recording, you wouldn’t play it?

b) Dealer/sales dude (watching out for his daily green) for some brand that I dissed for hard rock, etc?

a, b, or both?