Breaking into the high end with speakers….?

[dhansak]

I am considering trying to buy a pair of speakers that will last me a very long time. Jokes welcome.

I have, what I’d call, a nice mid-fi system which I think could support something decent - see signature for details. The Dynaudio Special Forty are a long term loan and replaced current gen Monitor Audio Gold 100, which I still have ‘on the bench’. To my ears this is an upgrade but if I’m going to make an investment I think I want to make it huge.

There’s a likely chance that my P8 will be replaced by a friend’s P10 soon - just to throw something else into the mix.

I’ve considered Meridian DSP5200SE, having owned the original DSP5200 many years ago and recently adding the G68 to my system and being taken back to a place I loved. I think, however, that retaining an all analogue path for my vinyl, which constitutes 80-90% of my listening makes sense.

A used pair of Audio Physic Codex at 35% of retail is one option I’m strongly considering - these speakers have been recommended to me as something that will be ‘next-level’.

My budget is around £6k which I want to stretch as much as possible by going used. I have patience with this purchase.

Room is small-ish at 8 metres by 8 metres in an apartment. I am on the top floor and have neighbours who have occasionally heard music when I used to use active floorstanders so this is a consideration.

Gimme your best thoughts and ideas! 🙏🏻

 

[DomT]

I am considering trying to buy a pair of speakers that will last me a very long time. Jokes welcome.

I have, what I’d call, a nice mid-fi system which I think could support something decent - see signature for details. The Dynaudio Special Forty are a long term loan and replaced current gen Monitor Audio Gold 100, which I still have ‘on the bench’. To my ears this is an upgrade but if I’m going to make an investment I think I want to make it huge.

There’s a likely chance that my P8 will be replaced by a friend’s P10 soon - just to throw something else into the mix.

I’ve considered Meridian DSP5200SE, having owned the original DSP5200 many years ago and recently adding the G68 to my system and being taken back to a place I loved. I think, however, that retaining an all analogue path for my vinyl, which constitutes 80-90% of my listening makes sense.

A used pair of Audio Physic Codex at 35% of retail is one option I’m strongly considering - these speakers have been recommended to me as something that will be ‘next-level’.

My budget is around £6k which I want to stretch as much as possible by going used. I have patience with this purchase.

Room is small-ish at 8 metres by 8 metres in an apartment. I am on the top floor and have neighbours who have occasionally heard music when I used to use active floorstanders so this is a consideration.

Gimme your best thoughts and ideas! 🙏🏻

In the UK 8m x 8m is considered huge and wondering if it’s a typo? If not I would have thought the Special 40 would sound a bit lost in that room.

 

[dhansak]

wondering if it’s a typo

It’s an open plan living space with kitchen. The listening space is approx 3m x 3m.

Kitchen is behind the sofa.

The speakers fill the room well at the moment, definitely no issues in that regard in my opinion.

 

[pmcuk]

8x8m says only one thing to me - panel speakers. Apogee ribbons are brilliant though obsolete - the Duetta is the nearest thing to "being there", spooky real. Then there's the Magnepan range - 6K would buy something top end there. And there are plenty of Martin Logans at various price points.

If you have space and they fit your room layout, panel speaker will give you a much more involving listening experience. You probably won't want to go back to boxes again. No huge bass output, so your neighbours won't complain. .

 

[Beobloke]

A pair of active Meridians gets my vote, althouhg I'd be going for some D6000s personally.

Still one of my all-time favourite loudspeakers.

 

[bencat]

Just a brief thought on this and first things that comes to mind is get to listen to as many different speakers as you can from the very expensive to the very cheap . Sort out what ones you like and then start to get loans or free home trials on as many as you can .

 

[dhansak]

Just a brief thought on this and first things that comes to mind is get to listen to as many different speakers as you can from the very expensive to the very cheap . Sort out what ones you like and then start to get loans or free home trials on as many as you can .

Will definitely do this. Help shortlisting based on real experience would be great from you all.

 

[dhansak]

panel speakers

Yes, this is an idea I will try to explore with a home demo.

 

[dhansak]

D6000s

Aesthetically these don’t work for me. If I was to go bigger it’d have to be 7200s for my visual tastes.

 

[hiesteem]

My budget is around £6k which I want to stretch as much as possible by going used. I have patience with this purchase.

Patience is most virtuous indeed when spending a lot of money on speakers. What is your amplification? My experience is a system needs to work together to create the sound as an enjoyable musical experience. The type of sound is personal to your taste and a good reason for first trying it at home and in your room.

 

[dhansak]

What is your amplification?

Moon 340iX

 

[tackleberry]

You might get a pair of ATC scm100 for That😊

 

[Psilonaught]

Yes, this is an idea I will try to explore with a home demo.

My dedicated listening room is 8x8 and gives me plenty of room for these.

Magnepan can be serviced in the UK, I would be wary of Apogee reliability and ease of UK servicing, although I have no doubt they are as stunning as the magnepan 20.x series, which is what I have.

Once you hear a panel, you never go back to cones and wooden boxes.

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

Another thought: GIGO. It is always worth having the best you can afford, even in the speakers dept, but are you sure the source(s) and amplification are the best?

 

[dhansak]

My dedicated listening room is 8x8 and gives me plenty of room for these.

These are way too imposing for my not-so-dedicated room. This is the space that I live in day in day out so needs to be calm, peaceful for both my partner and I. I also work from this room 5 days a week.

 

[Psilonaught]

These are way too imposing for my not-so-dedicated room. This is the space that I live in day in day out so needs to be calm, peaceful for both my partner and I. I also work from this room 5 days a week.

Martin Logan?

 

[dhansak]

are you sure the source(s) and amplification are the best?

I’m sure they aren’t. One step at a time. 😂

For now, speakers are my priority - this is probably the weakest part of my current system.

 

[dhansak]

Martin Logan

Will try to get a set of these to try. My friend had some and they ended up having to be binned due to some failure which worries me.

 

[lostwin]

Hifi Corner in Edinburgh would appear to have a good range of speakers including panels, Dali, ATC and Klipsch. Take your amp down there and demo a few - it should help to guide you in the direction you prefer.

I would strongly recommend budgeting for some speaker isolation,ideally Townshend, as this will not only help hugely with noise transmission downstairs but also allow the speakers to perform at their best.

 

[ChemMan]

Given you like the Special 40s, why not something in Dynaudio Contour, Confidence or new Focus range? I've yet to hear a speaker from them I did not like.

Revel Ultima Studio 2.

Spendor D10.2

ATC SCM 40 or the 50PSL

Q Acoustics Concept 500

I did not care for the Audio Physik line. I heard two different models.

As has been mentioned above, the store demo and subsequent is home demo is your due diligence. I dragged my amplifier to seven shops and heard 37 speakers before I had a short list of five for home demo. It took a long time, but at least it removed all the second guessing after the money was spent.