TAS' Recommended Floorstanders under $20,000

[richidoo]

http://www.avguide.com/review/the-absolute-sound-buyers-guide-floorstanding-loudspeakers-part-1-under-20k-tas-207

Which is your favorite of this bunch?

I'd take the Cremona Elipse.

[bpape]

Of that batch, either Maggie 20.1 or the Magico's.  Probably the Maggies.

Bryan

[Barry (NJ)]

Hmmm... I really have no desire to replace these...




but from that list I think I'd go with the Magnepan 20.1 speakers...

[Response Audio]

From the list I would go with the Maggies.

My other top choices under $20K are not on the list:

1) King Sound - Amazing value and beautiful sound ($6,000) A liitle too warm sounding at RMAF with the VAC tube gear but I could still have stayed in this room for hours on end.

2) Sanders ($14,000) A little better than the Kings but more than double the cost.

[richidoo]

CooL!
http://www.kingsaudio.com.hk/

[tmazz]

Having been a Thiel owner for the past 20+ years I'd have to throw my vote behind the 3.7s. However; if you have the room (both form the perspective of size and the ability to place them) you would have to give some serious consideration to one of the Maggies.

[Response Audio]

 My showroom provides me with plenty of room to benefit from open baffle, plannar and other dipole speaker types.

 My open baffles run 8 feet from the front wall and 4-5 feet from the side walls. With a 30 foot deep, 20 foot wide room, that leaves me with over 20 feet to the back wall from the speakers and still 10 feet between speakers. Maggies, Kings and the likes have plenty of room

[BobM]

You have to match the speaker to a listener's musical prefernces. Since I'm not much of a classical guy the Maggie's and Quad's, as beautiful as they are, are not on my short list. I'd have to lean toward the Magico's (on the list) or maybe a pair of Revel's (not on the list).

[mdconnelly]

If I had the room (which I don't), I'd probably want the Maggie's but, to be honest, I wouldn't consider any of them without some serious listening first.   I've heard the Quad's (at Rich's) and the Maggies.   

I am very curious about all of them but it seems the Magico's have gotten a lot of very good press so that would probably be on the top of my 'wanna hear' list.  My brother is a Thiel owner so I'd like to hear the 3.7s as well.

[richidoo]

Everyone that I know who has heard the Magicos gave them thumbsdown, especially for the price but I still haven't heard them. They said they sounded dead, but that is probably in comparison to paper driver SET tube overblown euphonic distortion that those guys like. Bob, you are right, the Revel Studio2 certainly deserves to be in the <20k pile, but TAS never reviewed it. Same tweeter, same bass drivers as the Salon2. Better sensitivity than Salon too.  I think it's one of the best used speaker values. Another good sign, none on Agon anymore.

The maggie reviews say low distortion, accurate tone, etc. My only hearing of Maggies was not like that. I do miss some things about the Quads, but I need louder.

[shep]

3A Grand Vina ref. way under 20K.

[tmazz]

My showroom provides me with plenty of room to benefit from open baffle, plannar and other dipole speaker types.

 My open baffles run 8 feet from the front wall and 4-5 feet from the side walls. With a 30 foot deep, 20 foot wide room, that leaves me with over 20 feet to the back wall from the speakers and still 10 feet between speakers. Maggies, Kings and the likes have plenty of room

30X20 ft room? I'm jealous!

[tmazz]

Everyone that I know who has heard the Magicos gave them thumbsdown, especially for the price but I still haven't heard them. They said they sounded dead, but that is probably in comparison to paper driver SET tube overblown euphonic distortion that those guys like. Bob, you are right, the Revel Studio2 certainly deserves to be in the <20k pile, but TAS never reviewed it. Same tweeter, same bass drivers as the Salon2. Better sensitivity than Salon too.  I think it's one of the best used speaker values. Another good sign, none on Agon anymore.

The maggie reviews say low distortion, accurate tone, etc. My only hearing of Maggies was not like that. I do miss some things about the Quads, but I need louder.

Maggies are like the Divas of High end speakers. Give them exactly what they want in terms of power space and placement and the produce a magical sound. But give them 95% of what the want and they just start to pout and become very uninvolving and almost pedestrian sounding. (I've never really heard a Maggie setup that sounded bad, but I have heard quite a few that just didn't sound good.

This was the reason for my conditional endorsement of them. If you are willing to kiss their @ss they can be wonderful speakers. But if not, you'd best move on to something else.

[rollo]

  Well Rockport Miras comes to mind. Vandersteen 3A, 5A as well. But what I really really want is a pair of Snell A-1s. I'd give up the Pipedreams in a flash. Which actually I'm considering selling. Too big for my room and a new room is just not happening any time soon.
  Arnie Nudells original designs as well as Nola. Owned original Dalquist. Love the Raven tweeter he uses these days. If I had the skills a open baffle with four Raven Midrange/tweeters per side with two 18" subs. Oh my.


charles