Recommendation - Ref 3a, GMA, NHT or Fritz?


Hello, I sold my PSB Gold i's after 10 years of enjoying them. They were just too big for my space. I am now in the market for a pair of monitors (new or used) for my 2 channel system in a 12x12 room. My system consists of a Spectron Musician II Hybrid amp (Digital amp @ 500 WPC), a Prometheus Audio Passive Volume Control, an Audioquest Dragonfly DAC and a Macbook Pro playing lossless music files. From reading reviews and forums here, I believe I've narrowed it down to four monitors. Please let me know if you have compared the following against each other, and which monitor you'd recommend: Green Mountain Audio Rio Chroma, Reference 3A De Capo i, NHT Classic 3, or Fritz Carbon 7?

While I'm not the best at describing my listening priorities, a wide soundstage, clear, neutral sound is what I like. I listen to an eclectic mix of music, but Jack Johnson, Dave Mathews, reggae, classical are some of my favorites at the moment.

Thanks!
Ag insider logo xs@2xcanjo07
Hi
I can only speak to the Dicappos. I really like mine. They are an awesome match for the 300b amp. I dont think one can go wrong with these speakers. So count me as a fan of reference 3a
Rob
Fritz Carbon 7s. Lush midrange, sparkling highs and solid bass. Never fatiguing. Fritz is also a genuinely nice guy and wonderful to work with.
Avoid the Merlin TSM. They are very weak in the bottom end.
Rio Chroma are excellent.
To answer the OP's original question - I've heard many models of the Green Mountain Audio speakers & I would heartily recommend the Rio Chroma or just the Rio model. These speakers are really very dynamic, give you the whole audio spectrum even at lower volumes, can thump out some serious bass for a 6" woofer & will play ALL your music with equal dexterity. Room placement is not any more fussy that any other speaker - just need to ensure that you have enough space to allow the drivers to integrate at your listening position & Roy Johnson (GMA owner & designer) likes the listener to have his ear height somewhere in between the tweeter & mid-bass for driver integration. It's nothing unreasonable - every speaker manuf has some sort of requirement to make their speaker sound the best - distance, toe-in, height, zobel network, etc.
Thanks for all of the responses. Base on the replies here and without any auditions yet, I am ranking in the following order: 1. Fritz 2. Ref 3A and 3. GMA. The Fritz Carbon 7 also appear to be the lowest price speaker of the three, so I think I'm leaning this direction.