$80K budget for Speakers

[andromedaaudio]

85 K exquisite Midi.
Dutch design , Dutch manufacturing

 

[andromedaaudio]

50 K Certainly not Bonzo approved .

 

[mariusc]

I think my friend has these Focal speakers. I have heard them once.

Every focal speaker I have ever heard, including my friend's speakers, I have found to be too bright and too analytical for me.

I agree, Focals and Magicos are too bright for me. I spent time with all three brands and ultimately sold my Vivid Audio G1s and replaced them with Alexias. No regrets for a single moment. The Alexia Vs are really special. My first choice would be the Alexx Vs, but they are in a different price class. I had Wilsons before and got tired of them, but have to admit today that the evolution to the new generation Wilsons (V material, new drivers, diode spikes) made a massive improvement for me. As a sidenote, I recently spent a lot of time with the Chronosonic XVX and the Wilson subsonic towers, driven by Boulder amplification, and this could for sure be the last system to aspire to.

 

[andromedaaudio]

If i had no choice but to go with the topic starters list , i d go with the Magicos and for example Octave amplification

 

[exupgh12]

Please, have a look at Sigma Acoustics Orchestra 2.9 model. It is another brand in addition to Stenheim that manufactures relatively high efficiency boxes with easy load for amps. This model has air motion transformer neodymium tweeter and paper based MF driver with alnico magnet. The drivers can be adjusted for time alinment.
If I was on the market to replace my Sashas, I would probably look at these 2 brands first. Both are Bonzo approved, which is another big thing .
http://extremeaudio.it/en/?portfolio=orchestra-2
View attachment 115972

Great speakers! they need allot more space then the suggested 25 square meters.

 

[defride]

Great speakers! they need allot more space then the suggested 25 square meters.

No they don't, sounded wonderful at Munich in a space that sort of size, highlight of the show for me. Aldo envisioned no issue with 2.9 going into circa 4x5 to 4x6m

 

[christoph]

Please, have a look at Sigma Acoustics Orchestra 2.9 model. It is another brand in addition to Stenheim that manufactures relatively high efficiency boxes with easy load for amps. This model has air motion transformer neodymium tweeter and paper based MF driver with alnico magnet. The drivers can be adjusted for time alinment.
If I was on the market to replace my Sashas, I would probably look at these 2 brands first. Both are Bonzo approved, which is another big thing .
http://extremeaudio.it/en/?portfolio=orchestra-2
View attachment 115972

I loved the Sigma Acoustics Orchestra 2.9 in Munich 2022 and hated it 2023.
Really don't know what went wrong in 2023

 

[christoph]

Dipoles can be a good solution for very demanding rooms because they don't radiate towards the floor and ceiling at all and quite little to the sides, so they don't agitate the room as much as regular speakers.

In a 5m x 5m room, I would probably maybe even opt for the AlsyVox Tintoretto

 

[defride]

I loved the Sigma Acoustics Orchestra 2.9 in Munich 2022 and hated it 2023.
Really don't know what went wrong in 2023

Sigma shared with a company who made a TT, tonearm and cartridge. That combination didn't work. However they also ran a linear tracking arm who's name escapes at the moment along with a Dynavector XV1s on the same TT. The latter combination was beautiful. Perhaps you heard the former

 

[bonzo75]

I loved the Sigma Acoustics Orchestra 2.9 in Munich 2022 and hated it 2023.
Really don't know what went wrong in 2023

This is so common. Speakers don't sound good in every condition, so you should only use when you have heard them do well as their reference. The badly set up at best will show what not to do. I heard the bigger models in four different private set ups, never at shows, the one with Kondo was excellent, the one with Koda K70 good.

 

[bonzo75]

Sigma shared with a company who made a TT, tonearm and cartridge. That combination didn't work. However they also ran a linear tracking arm who's name escapes at the moment along with a Dynavector XV1s on the same TT. The latter combination was beautiful. Perhaps you heard the former

That might be his own TT. He makes one for himself, non-commercial. He was/is a fan of the Vyger and owned it. However to split room costs he might be combining with another commercial brand.

 

[Argonaut]

WOLF VON LANGA 23239 CHICAGO

 

[mtemur]

Anything from Kharma Exquisite line will do just fine. Estelon X Diamond is another great option.

 

[exupgh12]

No they don't, sounded wonderful at Munich in a space that sort of size, highlight of the show for me. Aldo envisioned no issue with 2.9 going into circa 4x5 to 4x6m

Missed them in Munich, however during my last visit to Italy, I herd them for a couple of days in a room larger (and treated) than the one we are talking. The standing waves caused boomy and smeared bass, which couldn’t overlooked.”

 

[itay123]

I agree, Focals and Magicos are too bright for me. I spent time with all three brands and ultimately sold my Vivid Audio G1s and replaced them with Alexias. No regrets for a single moment. The Alexia Vs are really special. My first choice would be the Alexx Vs, but they are in a different price class. I had Wilsons before and got tired of them, but have to admit today that the evolution to the new generation Wilsons (V material, new drivers, diode spikes) made a massive improvement for me. As a sidenote, I recently spent a lot of time with the Chronosonic XVX and the Wilson subsonic towers, driven by Boulder amplification, and this could for sure be the last system to aspire to.

I very much agree with the assumption,
FOCAL and that included Utopia series for generations including the current series, from what I got to impress, the sound that comes out is very synthetic, with a certain thinness in the fuller mid, and a kind of piercing overall Brightness and it doesn't matter what is connected to them,
I really don't understand what the enthusiasm for this company as speaker designers , however Focal's elements are excellent, but when it comes to building and designing speakers from that company, NOT for my ears.

Magico are more Tonal balanced than Focal, and yes I agree with the assumption that they have a certain overall Brightness but nevertheless it is tolerable unlike FOCAL.

Regarding Wilson, as someone who has been faithful for at least a decade, I really liked the era of Focal elements in Wilson speakers, the feeling was much fuller, faster and dynamic, the speakers I really wanted after 3 years with the very good MAXX 2's were to move on to either ALEXX or stretch the budget to ALEXX V ,
after listening to ALEXX I realized that my direction was probably not there,
I examined countless speakers and brands, and what grabbed me, moved me to the point of tears and shook me was the sensitivity and delicacy and the bursting dynamics, and the realism of Kaiser Kawero,
which I have yet to meet a pair of speakers that surpassed them even for twice the amount of mine, and mine cost in MY version (and upgrad's) some of 104,500€,
but the amount is not really related here, but the desire to get closer to the music, which will touch us and move us, activate us and still be faithful to the recording.

 

[defride]

That might be his own TT. He makes one for himself, non-commercial. He was/is a fan of the Vyger and owned it. However to split room costs he might be combining with another commercial brand.

It was a family start up from near Venice called Thuono Audio, the TT was their TH400 - local friends as I understand. Like I said, didn't care for their tonearm/cart combination which was modestly priced. Just looked it up, the other tonearm was a Thiele TA01 with XV1s. Amps were CanEVER (another Venice based company)

That front end showed what the Sigma could do, those I was with all seemed to enjoy the room too.

 

[Kingrex]

Dipoles can be a good solution for very demanding rooms because they don't radiate towards the floor and ceiling at all and quite little to the sides, so they don't agitate the room as much as regular speakers.

Where did you get that idea? I believe it is inaccurate.

 

[Folsom]

Where did you get that idea? I believe it is inaccurate.

He's got part of the concept but lacking the results of it. It's only around the speaker edge that it does less.

 

[Kingrex]

It appears that you are just beginning this crazy hobby. At this price point, you really need to visit some members and dealers and find out what sound really gets you excited. A million great suggestions here, but you need to know what is right for you.

Also, as others have mentioned, speakers are just a part of the system. You need to pair with something in the same league and set up properly in the room with treatments, etc. There's sooo much to this hobby that money can't buy. You'll need the setup and matching in order to come out of this project truly happy with what you've created.

If you are really new to this, I urge you to think about all of this before pulling the trigger on something that seems cool.

Hey Marc, your going to ruin a sale. Pipe down. Everyone knows all you need is really good speakers and all else falls into place.

 

[morricab]

Where did you get that idea? I believe it is inaccurate.

Christoph is coming from the point of view of large planar speakers that are not only dipoles they are also line sources and line sources do indeed minimize floor and ceiling reflections.