Greetings guys and girls.
I'll get right to the point cause times a wasting. I'm going to be looking at upgrading my speakers within the next 30 days. This may be my last speaker purchase due to a) I live on a fixed income of $800 per month and b) my living many more years is iffy (heart disease blah blah blah.)
I've been doing my best to research various speakers on the web, reading many reviews and perusing many forums.
My budget for this upgrade is about 1500 max!
Speaker usage is 95% music.
I've narrowed my choices down to the following shortlist.
Revel concerta 2 f35 or f36
I've heard its possible to negotiate some savings on Revel models from dealers. If I could find a dealer who'd give me the f36's for 1500 the search would be over.....these have pretty much aced all the subjective listening reviews and the objective (measurements) tests I've run across.
Wharfdale Evo 4.3
Just out of reach but could catch them on sale or find open box models if they were worth it.
Dali Opticon 5 ?
Dali Oberon 7 ?
KEF Q750, Q950
Seem to be a lot of sales going on with these at the moment.
Wharfdale Diamond 11.5
Focal Chora 826 *Out of my price range and rarely see significant price reductions BUT I'd be interested if I could find a sale.
Unlikely.
Also considered the BMR kit from meniscus/Dennis Miller but I'm not sure about wanting to do the labor.
* Doe's anybody think the JBL Studio 580 or 590 compare with the speakers above. I think they look like poop but they often get deeply discounted.
FYI - My system is still being put together but for now this is how things look,
Digital flac files locally served from my computer (amd 3950x 16 core/32 threads w/64 gb of 3200 ram) using musicbee or aimp (asio exclusive) fed to a Topping D70bt DAC into a Hypex NC502mp based 2 channel amp (2x500w @4ohm, 2x350w @8ohm). My current main speakers are Athena AS-F2's I bought about 20 years ago.
My main listening area/room is approx 10 ft wide my 20 ft deep. I've done no room treatment as of yet but plan to seek out some members to help me with suggestions for that when the time comes.
It's also worth noting that I don't have the ability to audition speakers before I buy since there are zero hifi stores within several hundred miles.
My musical tastes are eclectic......Steve Earle, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Pretenders, James Brown, Bob Marley, Al Green, Marvin Gaye etc etc..- they need to be able to play all genres equally well.
What I'm looking for in a speaker upgrade is a speaker thats balanced, transparent, accurate. Something that's neutral and revealing (yes, I want to listen to old songs and hear new things). Detail retrieval, imaging, and the ability to play fairly loudly without distortion.....all important.
I'd appreciate anyone's experience with or opinion on any of these speakers.
If there are other speaker brands/models that you feel warrant serious consideration when compared to the list above feel free to mention them.
Thanks in advance and stay safe.