Speakers suitable for Music

[musiclover]

I am going to build up a system primarily for music and occasional movies. Due to shortage of funds I'm going to build it part by part. I'm a total music inclined person and would like to get the best musical speakers that I can buy. I'm more into rock and blues. My room size is about 600 sq ft.
After lot of studies online and some auditioning I am inclining towards Magnepan. I think amongst all the speakers I auditioned maggies are the speakers that do music best. I want to build a 2 channel set up first and later will add a sub and centre-channel as well as surrounds as and when I can afford. But the whole system is going to hava one single goal " To have the best possible music". I have a budget of $1500 for the two main speakers that can be stretched till $2000. I dont like bright sounding speakers.
Now my questions are What are other speakers I should consider in this price category that are good for music ? What are my other options i.e other speakers that do music best ?? If I decide to go for the maggies then is my room too small for the maggies ? I like the MG1.6 but the temptation is there to go for MG3.6. Is the price difference btw this two is justified ? Also since maggies are power hungry which AV receiver will be sufficient.
It'll be of big help to me if all the audio-gurus here help me making the right decison.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Also since maggies are power hungry which AV receiver will be sufficient.

Due to the inefficiency of those speakers, you'll probably want to skip AVRs and head straight into seperate power amps.

 

[jaxvon]

I'll second that one. Also, I've read that the higher end Maggies (3.6 and 20.1) that use the ribbon tweeter, have some issues where the tweeter goes after a few years. Of course, Magnepans are still awesome speakers. Audition as many as you can and decide there.

 

[ericb]

Check out Canton

I found the Canton Karat series to do extremely with music. Very detailed musical speakers. They can be a bit pricy but worth the money in my opinion if music is your thing. I also think they look pretty good too which is a nice bonus. You can check out their site at www.canton.de. Good luck.

 

[markw]

Maggies are quite placement sensitive.

If you can put them a few feet in from the sides and back of the room and still find a place to sit, you may be on to something.

Also, they DO like power. You might be able to to this smaller systems with a big receiver but I doubt you'll be satisfied with the 1.6's or the 3.6's with a receiver.

I use a Rotel RB 991 for my 1.6's. They chewed up and spit out a NAD 214, which is no wimp.

Boxes might make more sense in a small room.

 

[Dan]

If you like Maggies, you should also like Vandersteens. The model 2ce is $1500 plus about 150 for the stands. They image better than Maggies and have much better low end response. Like Maggies they are very position sensitive and need some room out from the front wall but not quite as much as Maggies. They are also power hungry but not as much as Maggies. They are probably not as good on they high end as Maggies but that is solved on the model 3a but that is $3500.

You don't say what music you like. I found Maggies great for classical but deficient for other things unless you add a subwoofer. Vandys handle anything with aplomb.

 

[rschleicher]

Magneplanars are dipoles, aren't they? I think that lack of deep bass would be the biggest shortcoming - corrected by adding a sub at some point. If you like the sound of planar speakers, you might want to check out Martin-Logans, which are electrostatics for the highs and mid-range, but use conventional woofers in the bottom of the cabinet for better bass response. They also make timbre-matched center channels for later.

Quad electrostatics would be too expensive, unless you can find some used ones cheap. (I have heard a little bit about a new, cheaper line of Quad speakers, but my impression is that they aren't electrostatics, and bear little resemblance to "regular" Quads. That is not to say that they don't sound very nice - just that they are a distinct design departure from electrostatic Quads.)

 

[cornelius]

Maggie 1.6s are nice sounding speakers. If you have the room for them, don't mind the small sweet spot (don't stand up) and have the power, it's really hard to beat them for the money. As mentioned above, Vandersteens are another great classic speaker worth auditioning (I'm into the time coherent design).

With my experiences I chose a third company, and went with a pair of Ohm Microwalsh Talls. The Ohms have all of the amazing soundstage ability (ABSOLUTELY no boxiness) of the Vandies and Maggies, but in a much more room-friendly enclosure. They're not exactly lookers (especially the larger models) but they are really easy to place. The biggest surprise to me was the utterly transparent sound - very smooth - I think it's because the tweeter doesn't kick in until about 8k. They really fill a room with sound, but in a realistic, non-gimmicky way - the rear wall just disappears.

Here are two reviews to try. Of course it's not recommended to go only by a reviewer's viewpoint, but since it's an in-home demo, it's a place to start!

http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/walsh/micro.html
http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/ohm/ohm.html

 

[fallencr]

Try Martin Logan

I am also aquinted with the maggie sound, and alternate option resides in the new martin logan line especially the Mosaic model, I have heard both the mosaic and the 1.6r in my room and can tell you that they both sound pretty well, the Mosaic is little more dynamic mostly because it isn't as powerhungry as the maggie. they are also very tone correct.

 

[Tdekany]

If you like Maggies, you should also like Vandersteens. The model 2ce is $1500 plus about 150 for the stands.

I second the 2Ce. Excellent speakers.

 

[T2T]

I found the Canton Karat series to do extremely with music. Very detailed musical speakers.

I had a chance to hear the Karats (model 60?) against the following speakers yesterday: Polk RTi10, Wharefedale Evo, Polk LSi9. Out of the 4, the Karats sounded the best when it comes to music.

Of course I'd throw my own subs into the mix, so that would open up even more choices for speakers. Where I could pull the subs into the picture, would make up for where some of the other speakers lacked.

 

[shokhead]

I didnt know there was music speakers and movie speakers. I figure more like either a good speaker or crap.

 

[cbraver]

I didnt know there was music speakers and movie speakers. I figure more like either a good speaker or crap.

That's because your absolutely right.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

In my mind, a movie speaker would be anything that is sold as an HTiB. I would never dream of listening to the 1812 Overture on those little tinny speakers and booming sub.

 

[jaxvon]

Well, those tiny speakers and booming sub aren't going to make for a very magical movie experience either. Any good speaker setup should do music and HT well. Besides, most movies have a lot of dialog and music, so accurate reproduction and "musicality" are a must.

 

[shokhead]

If your sub is booming,its either cheap or not setup right. I cant tell when by sub is working,it always seems like its coming from my mains,its magic.

 

[cornelius]

It's true, a speaker of good design can handle Music, Dialogue and SFX (real or not). I think the distinction from speaker brands to keep in mind, are those of quality and those targeted for the "Home Theatre Crowd." The former is what I think most of us here are interested in, the latter a design (guilty of such things as emphasizing frequency extremes at the expense of quality), and accepted by a much less discerning crowd.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Well, those tiny speakers and booming sub aren't going to make for a very magical movie experience either.

No. Not for you or me, but for a lot of people HTiB is an improvement over the cheap speakers TVs have and, not knowing better, they are quite satisfied with it. They aren't looking for magical, just loud.