Need Guidance for Next/Last Pair of Speakers


I’ll try to be brief, although it’s not my strong suit..😁 I sold my pair of Altec 19 speakers a long time ago. I was the original owner, and their sheer size just didn’t work out at the time. I’ve been infatuated with audio equipment since I was a young lad, so after selling the Altec’s, I went on a long journey to replace them. Magnepan’s, Martin Logan’s, Thiel’s, Legacy Audio, Von Schweikert, Focal, and the list goes on and on. None of them have been able to recreate the magic of those 19’s.

I actually custom made a pair of speakers with a Great Plains 604 coax driver, but never could get the crossovers right, so I sold them. I now have a pair of Focal’s that are great, but they just don’t have that Altec 19 personality.

I’d love to have a pair of Avantgarde’s, but they’re well out of my current budget. I still don’t have the space for another pair of 19’s unfortunately. So the question is, what speakers should I be looking at that might have a similar character in a smaller package? I’ve not been actively engaged in the hobby for around 6 years, and I see what seem like hundred’s of new speakers/companies that have entered the market. I have to be overlooking quite a bit, so is there anything out there that I should consider? Would more of a professional type speaker be something to consider? 

Any input/guidance would be most appreciated. I was actually wondering if something like Zu Audio would fit the bill, but have read mixed reviews. As you can tell by my love of the Altec 19’s, extreme "accuracy" isn’t important. They just sounded like live music more than just about any speaker I’ve ever heard. That’s what I’m looking for. 

Thanks!

seadweller

check out my vintage rig posted on my systems page.  I had a pair of Altec Santiagos resto/modded by aural hifi in denver (jeremy).  cost was within your budget.  he could source a pair of vintage speakers for you.

If space is an issue, I’d consider using a set of Swarm subs made by Audiokinesis. The advantage here is that the subs are meant to be as close to the wall as possible and will give you 20Hz response without big peaks or nulls in the room.

Then it gets a lot easier to choose your main speakers since they don’t have to play deep bass. Something that can go to 60Hz suits nicely. That ’magic’ you’re looking for comes from the speaker being higher efficiency. If space is an issue, perhaps DeVore Fidelity?

Stay away from ’full range’ drivers if that driver is the only driver in the box. At low levels they can sound quite good, but the highs tend to be beamy and if you turn up the volume, Doppler Effect distortion really messes up the presentation. They will work quite well though if the bass is rolled off by a crossover and a tweeter is used to handle the highs.

I would take a look at some Audio Note speakers, they are wonderful sounding with the sound characteristics your looking for, but it all depends what the front end of your system looks like.