Thread: 2020 Stereo Floor-Standing Speakers To Consider For $7,500 To $15,000

Stereo Floor-Standing Speakers To Consider For $7,500 To $15,000

01. KEF Reference 3

02. Focal Kanta No. 3

03. B&W 804 D3

04. Joseph Audio Perspective 2 Graphene

4B. Joseph Audio Pulsar 2 Graphene (bookshelf speakers known for big floor standing speaker sound, could be paired with dual subs)

05. Harbeth Monitor 40.2 (slightly over $15,000, still needs a small platform stand)

Any others I should consider? Please post below!!

Originally Posted by Paul

What’s the associated gear ? Size of the room ? What kind of music do you listen to most ?

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I don’t have anything yet. I will likely purchase the Chord Hugo TT 2 or the Yggdrasil 2 to use as a DAC. And I’ll buy an amp setup that works well with the speakers. The room has a very very tall ceiling perhaps 16 feet, and it’s about 16’ x 24’ perhaps, the kitchens area is on one end, it’s a loft main room, I also have a nice size bedroom. I like everything from rock and roll to modern pop. Female voices especially like Gloria Estefan. I will also watch movies and play video games with it.

Originally Posted by neodinardo

Stereo Floor-Standing Speakers To Consider For $7,500 To $15,000

01. KEF Reference 3

02. Focal Kanta No. 3

03. B&W 804 D3

04. Joseph Audio Perspective 2 Graphene

4B. Joseph Audio Pulsar 2 Graphene (bookshelf speakers known for big floor standing speaker sound, could be paired with dual subs)

05. Harbeth Monitor 40.2 (slightly over $15,000, still needs a small platform stand)

Any others I should consider? Please post below!!

I do find Joseph Audio stuff worthy and take a look at Usher very good stuff too ..


Regards

I wondered what would be priced at. The KEF R5 design is clean and easy on the eyes. I’m a big fan of them visually with the all black gloss and copper accents.

So far I’m feeling KEF Reference 5, Joseph Audio Perspective2 Graphene, and Harbeth 40.2 options. I want to hear these three first. B&W 803 D3 is always the go to for me, but I want to explore options. And I’ll pay attention to these other brands mentioned if I ever come across them. The TT2 is out, might buy the Dave however.

I really enjoy these posts. Best advice I can offer you is become good friends with a Dealer that carry's A LOT of different brands. Then make sure you actually know what sound you're looking for and hopefully that Dealer can help you save a lot of time and money getting there.

Tekton should also be on anyone’s short list.

Cheers,
Bernard

You can get deals that fit under your price cap on Revel Salon2's , but you'll need some muscle to make 'em growl in a room that size. If this is a multi-purpose room (you mention a kitchen area), one of the great strengths of this speaker is it's off-axis response.
Parker

I never considered Magico speakers before this thread. They are recommended here and there. Now the Magico reviews start to stand out more as I come across them again in my research. I might not have searched for them or demoed them otherwise. Now I will seek out a demo and I may just buy them. Although I read they are not as pretty as say the KEF Reference 5 with a nice piano black gloss finish. I do tend to gravitate towards special tweeter technologies like in B&W, Focal, Magico, and KEF. So the forum posts absolutely do help me with my speaker search. Also, thanks to everyone for any help rendered. And yes, I do need to start hearing them in person. I’m also not into the idea of built in amplifiers as I want to choose that separately and have the option of changing it, unless it’s a subwoofer.

i know piega very well, used to live 2min away from theyr factory. lets say kurt scheuch is a friend of mine and i would love to recommend it. i used to have the cl 90x and the linesource.
they are excellent. however, they are NOT good for gaming and watching films.

I definitely want a balance of music, movies, and games audio quality in that order of importance. I may not get that home theater bass punch, but I do want to approach full range. And also still have the treble and midrange qualities of say Von S VR-1 or B&W 805 D3 (or better), put all that in a nicely finished floorstanding design. For the longest time I thought that was the B&W 804 D3, then I thought that Focal Kanta No. 3 was the firm answer. It may still be. Then KEF Reference 5 popped up, so did Joseph Audio, and the Herbeth 40.2 is always a contender. And all the other models listed here. I believe the answer is somewhere here already, I just have to start listening. Focal was on my hot list as they make those amazing Utopia headphones. Herbeth came to my attention through the sheer enthusiasm of the reviews starting with the audiophiliac. KEF made waves with the LS50 and I was impressed with prior store demos. I’ve owned the VR-1s and they blew out of the water (save for bass) every NHT speakers I’ve ever owned. Yes, I was a NAD and NHT fan back in the day. Joseph Audio was from The Absolute Sound research and the fuss that the Pulsar 2 was making. B&W was always on my radar since the USAF days when I almost purchased a 700 series speaker for $3K in rosewood. They sounded nice but I ended up with the VR-1 instead for $1000, which was a bargain for the sound. Until the veneer started to peel. They cheaped out on the finish. Still audio wise, they were worth every penny.

thats why i love the newer wilson audios, they are a bit more forgiving and are excellent for films, deep house etc.
have a look at 2nd hand yvett or even sasha daw

Perhaps the Sabrina?

my bud is wilson audio distributor, he has all the models up to the chronosonic.
the sabrina as well....but imagine, everytime i am there i want to hear the bigger models. the smallest model i listened was the daw.
lol, i used to run the tunetots for a year, even much smaller than the sabrinas, and they are excellent for movies.
however, i cant comment on the sabrinas at all

i just remember he mentioned a client who was on the way to buy the piega511 (he sells piega as well) but then liked the sabrinas better

I just realize for Focal raised their prices on the Sopra 2. Not fair. I discounted the Kanta series due to the lack of bass slam vs the Sopra woofer material per various indicators, if I go Focal it’s the Sopra 2 or Sopra 3. I’m just not sure where that kinda of money will come from. I could buy one at a time over say a year. Would that be crazy?

IME deep house, techno can be quite addictive with sealed bass like Magico. I also find sealed enclosure sub like JL to work really well with Magico. The combo also provides those visceral feel on HT side of things in my system as well.

If I were you, I’d up the budget a little and go for Magico A5.

havent heard it yet but from looking at it i think the a5 could really be the right one.
worth to skip the rest of the plan, or lol, get the monoversion. you could use the single a5 as subwoofer and get some cheap satelittes until you buy the 2nd

btw i had a small pair of focals and then a bigger model. they were not good for films, didnt matter what amp i did use.

again me, sry, just after posting i always have more thoughts....

one of the few places who run both wilson and magicos is my-sound in germany, not far from the hi-end place in münich.
they have the m models, the a3 but not yet the a5.
if you ever go there, lol

the m3 was madness good sounding even with deep house!!! then again, a sasha daw or alexia2 has ways more slam and dynamic. to be fair, the rest of all parameters the m3 was even some better.

I’m pretty sure I live in a dome like The Truman Show because I never left the US

well, the usa provides the whole spectrum of nature, no absolute need to look further.
my neighbor was only twice in his life (60 years) in the city 30 km away. the 2nd time was when i took him with me.

ATC SCM40 or 50’s, or where I still play in the focal line.

I have a speaker hunt update. I am very close to pulling the trigger on a pair of black gloss Focal Sopra No 2 Speakers. I am looking to demo them this week, to compare and contrast to a few other last minute options. I know I need to do more demos vs just reading - limited time and options, ETC.

On paper, the Focal Sopra No 2 ticks a lot of boxes for me. The Sopra No 2 have special beryllium tweeters and I love those sparkling, detailed, upper end frequencies. The beryllium tweeter is known for its high-end detail retrieval while remaining pleasant to listen to for longer periods. Focal has big company R&D budgets, they have big company warranties, and they have excellent reviews. They look nice, the build quality is very nice, and they are sufficiently high-end with high-end detail retrieval.

For my midrange I do not prefer a warm signature that limits resolution. Nor do I want a cold analytical precision. I like my mid-range to be in the Goldilocks zone. Balanced, seamless and smooth - while still being energetic, vivid, and resolving. Then add just a tad of warmth. And I hope that is the kind of high-end mid-range that the Focal Sopra No 2 offers.

Just as I prefer, The Focal Sopra No 2 bass is described as fast, tight, and articulate. I do not pine for home theater bass slam, merely punchy will do. If I want more slam I could always deploy dual powered subwoofers. That Sopra No 2 and dual sub setup could outclass the Sopra No 3 and also remain flexible for smaller rooms.

I could try a tube preamplifier if I wanted to add a few degrees of warmth. Seemingly, the Focal Sopra series is more of a blank canvas in this respect. Something I could swing somewhat in one way or the other with DAC and amplification choices. So I would rather have a decidedly warmer amp versus a decidedly warmer speaker. Is that backwards? I do not know. What I do know is that for me these speakers are just too expensive to switch in or out. I am far more likely to try new DACs, preamplifiers, or power amplifiers to find an ideal match. Considering the relative costs, those audio components are far more easy to upgrade over time.

As a company, Focal had the audio chops devastate any claims to the flagship headphone world wide belt. Take the Focal Utopia open-back headphones for example. The Focal Utopia is basically Rocky now. It is several movies in and the Utopia is still going strong. If you ever beat him, defy the odds, he will just come back in the sequel and kick your ass. That BumBumBumBumBaNaNa music will swell as the inevitable Utopia 2 enters the ring for a rematch. And The Focal Stellia is like Apollo Creed. He is the current closed-back headphone champion, almost as good a fighter, but not quite (only due to closed-back limitations). I would not mind a matching set of Focal logos between my Focal Sopra No 2 speakers and my Focal Utopia and or Stellia headphones. All with matching beryllium driver covers. It is tempting to just buy all the high end headphone gear instead of a set of speakers.

And I have enjoyed reading about the other speaker options presented on this forum thread. For the recommendations of brands newer to me I would definitely need a few demos to get excited about them. If needed, I will find more stores and more demos. However, as long as my Focal Sopra No 2 demo meets expectations I am going to Focal Town.

And take everything I post with a big audio grain of salt. I am too green on speakers and I may never graduate out of internet D-List audio expert school. I am likely to find the one or two speaker amplifier combos that works for me and stop searching. Plus, I do not know if I know what I am talking about. You know?

Thank you for that sentiment. That post took forever to properly craft. I feel sorry for anyone that read it before the edits.

Accidental double post.

From my research and inquires I have found that the Focal Sopra No 3 is noted to be a step better than the Focal Sopra No 2. A step better that is well worth the added cost. I also have found that the Sopra No 3 is noted to be a much bigger speaker with more room filling sound pressure. As a result, more listening space will be needed for it. The Sopra No 2 was already a stretch for me when considering cost, I could additionally save for the Sopra No 3, though given my current loft spaces and or expected future residences that is perhaps unnecessary. And I always have the dual subwoofer option.

I did some ballpark math against the Focal Sopra series recommended room sizes. And I considered a comfortable want to need guesstimate. I did this by taking the max square footage recommendation, backing off a tad, and playing with a square footage calculator. There is no way to account for ceiling height, but I doubt that is a determining factor.

By my rough, humble estimations you would need a luxurious man cave of about 20-feet by 30-feet to make the Sopra No 3 reasonably worth the extra cost. For most room sizes the Focal Sopra No 2 is arguably plenty of speaker. At least according the available online information and and various advice that we know of. Given this info I would rather have dual powered subwoofers which can be turned off if need be. And the Focal Sopra No 2 can easily handle just about any room size I can afford rent or mortgage in. That is everything from a normal bedroom to a large living room.

The suggestion is that for normal sized rooms if you want better sound than the Sopra No 2 offers you should purchase a better speaker line. But not necessarily a bigger, more room filling one such as the Sopra No 3.