[jefemeister]

If you get a Rega Planet you have no need for a DAC1. As far as speakers I'd check out Paradigm or Spendor. It seems I'm always recommending Bryston amps too, especially if you're buying used.

 

[walkman666]

Man, you ought to go to Audiogon or Audio Asylum as they have really extensive discussions on speakers (just the way this place has for headphones).

For your budget and sound, the Vandersteen 3A Signature would be one viable speaker to audition. I have the Vandersteen 1C and this brand's sonic signature has some (but not a 100%) overlap with your criteria and your Senn 650 analogy (warm, lush, relaxed mids, detailed, mucho bass, decent high's). There are many (many!) other speaker brands to choose from, and many have a sound that is like what you describe.

I'm considering a move up from my vandersteen 1Cs but am after a different flavor -- something faster, with stronger mids and a better fit for rock. I've narrowed my list to Von Schweikert (VR2), Totem (Hawk) and Gallo (Reference III). All of these are in your price range ($2500), and get very good user reviews, but at the end of the day, you'd have to listen to any speaker to determine if it's your flavor.

- walk

 

[Dimitris]

Thanks a lot for the recommendations. I will keep looking around. It seems like its going to take me some time to gather all the money for speakers+amp+cables. In the meantime I will keep enjoying my HD650.

In the end its all about music!

 

[markl]

Read up on PSB Stratus Goldi. Full-range floor-standers. Some of the best-regarded speakers in their price range, they set the standard at their level. Retail is $2500 but they can be had on the web for less. Fantastic speakers, can't recommend them highly enough.

 

[mmmmcheese]

You may want to look at the Onix speakers from AV123.com. They have a laid back sound that I really love. They also have some really great deals going on right now.

 

[pne]

I noticed someone suggested triangle, I own a pair and wanna add a little sidenote to this, their slightly tipped treble can be very pleasing or very annoying depending on the listenner. My theory is a lot of the veteran listenners with older ears perfer brighter highs. Anyways, I would strongly suggest demoing them, and whatever speakers you plan to buy, before you purchase them. Buying unheard is not a very good idea no matter how many positive reviews a speaker has gotten.

 

[geoges.ravel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dimitris I am looking for very good mids and tight bass and lush sound.

The amp will be Pathos New Classic One then

The new Rega Appolo CDP is even better than the Juipter according to the critics and for the price of a planet. If the pathos is the amp, then you have to find a matching speaker.

 

[Wimmig]

The B&W Nautilus were cute and all, same with the 800 series i just didn't find the $ to performance justification.

The Alesis M1 Active's do just fine for my A/V playback.

Nice on the wallet too

 

[zdogg]

I'm diggin' my current system with Pathos Classic One Mark II (gotta roll those sovtek 6922s out in favor of some amperex NOS tubes though) and Triangle Antal ES speakers (can be had for around $1500 on Audiogon from Underwood HiFi). The later ES series (compared with the old 202s) is much less tipped up in the treble, although these are still horn-loaded tweeters which means they are very directional...they need only about 5-10 degrees of toe-in. I once tried some extreme 45 degrees toe-in with the axis of both tweeters crossing at the listening sweet spot...almost made my ears bleed (too much treble

).

When appropriately set up they sound fantastic though, incredible imaging and speed. Disadvantage is they roll the deep bass off below 50 (placement near a back wall helps with this).

The DAC1 in this setup is very resolving but a tad unforgiving, especially in the highs. I recently got an SACDmods Denon 2900 used and it really sounds much more musical in this setup for redbook and dvd-audio, and it does outstanding SACD as well...and it has a true balanced out to mate with the balanced circuitry in the Pathos. Highly recommended in your price range.

 

[shawntp]

Speakers are only one part of the system and when you are approaching the 3K mark you are getting into real Hi-Fi stuff.

All your components are just as equal and sound will only be as good as your weakest link. There are expensive booshelves/floorstanders/high efficiency/low efficiency ...a lot to consider when you are matching up components & characteristics in building a system.

I personally love Totem Acoustic speakers ...they have coloration but are beatuful, full, earthy, musical ....they jump to life and make music enjoyable. They are fairly low effiecient speakers (88db) so they need some juice.

B&W is very popular, but there sound is very consise/sterile (though building a cetain a system could change this).

I would head over to www.Audiogon.com as that is for stereo systems what head-fi is for headphones. In the end its all subjective though and you need to buy what your ear enjoys.

Keep in mind that a $600 speaker might be hooked up to the right gear and sound better than any $3000 speaker. Also if you hear a $3000 speaker hooked up to matching components (in the same $$$ range) and bring it home to your setup you will not get the same magic.

Augiogon has posts with some some loose guidelines about what % of your budget you should consider using on what. With $3000 speakers I would imaging you have other decent equipment $1000 range amp/transport/dac/good cables. Building a system is deffinitly involving/gradual/and an art.

 

[Jon L]

You don't need to even spend $3000 for room your size. If I were you, I would get the Benchmark DAC1, skip the transport and use your PC as transport w/ Flac files. Then you would buy the incredible-sounding $800 MSRP! Almarro A205A 4.8 watt single-ended pentode amp, which has a headphone jack on the back.

One might ask, how can 4.8 watts be enough?

That's when you would buy the Cain & Cain Abby speakers pictured above, which is only $1500 New. If you want to splurge, you could go for the $3500 Cain & Cain IM Ben (the darker speaker). 4.8 watts will blow out your ears with these sensitive speakers, and there's plenty of bass as well.

The $800 Almarro + $1500 Abby combo will blow the doors off of some very high $$$ "traditional" high-power amp + multi-driver speaker setups. I personally prefer this combo to some VERY famous $70K multi-driver speakers I recently heard also.

Another way to go is the Zu Druid speakers above. Very nice and making plenty of volume with 1 watt amp shown above.

Gallo Ref III's are not bad, either, but it is a traditional multi-way speaker whose tweeter is way better than other drivers used...

 

[Claus1100xx]

how bout the Anthony Gallo Reference 3. Supposedly prety nice speakers for the price and pretty cool looking too.

 

[JiiEf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shawntp Speakers are only one part of the system and when you are approaching the 3K mark you are getting into real Hi-Fi stuff.

Just to voice the opposite opinion, speakers are the most important part of the audio chain (with room acoustics). I firmly believe that you should get the best speakers you can afford, even if it means mid-fi electronics - and I can say that through bitter experience, when comparing my gear to that of people who followed my advice.

IMHO, if there is something wrong with your speaker choice (too bright, not enough bass) no amount of tweaking is going to fix that.

/JF

 

[pbalcer]

Hi all,
I've just found this thread and I find it quite interesting. As it happens, recently I got for myself (relatively) inexpensive Athena AS-F2 speakers. I've been wondering if anyone had experience with those speakers and could compare them to other brands? I like the sound of Athenas but I'm curious about other speakers...
Thanks.

 

[shawntp]

I'll agree that the speakers are the most important piece, but I have seen a good speakers sound ruined by downstream components.

I will agree that getting getting a good set of speakers will make for a huge improvement ...you can always upgrade around them and that is probably where you want to start when building you system.

With my totems I find them real warm and earthy and found them best matched with the cold-solid state musical fidelity gear that help maximaze the bass in my fairly-small floor-standers (in contrast I do know many others like totems with tubes which add even more warmth) I sort of like the balance.