First of all I like to wish everyone a fine new year.
Acoustic Energy Aegis 2. I can buy these speakers, used as demonstration speakers, for 360 euro (about $400) a pair at my local hifi-store. Does anyone have any experience with these?
My current set: Marantz PM 7200 amp, a Marantz cd 5000 cd player and B&W DM 201i speakers.
The weakest link are the speakers for sure (the cheapest B&W speakers in 1996), athough they many times sound gorgeous, it depends heavily on where I sit and which way my head is turned...replacing a speaker a single inch or turning my head could easily destroy the stereo image. And with some cd's (not many though), Patty Griffin's "1000 kisses" for instance, the vocals sound hard and glassy.
I have thought about replacing my cd player as well, but some serious listening sessions with the likes of NAD C542, Rotel RCD-02 and Marantz CD 7300 didn't show any substantial improvements, yes only until I auditioned the Marantz cd 17MK II KI, but this player is expensive and the improvement was still a mere subtle one. I really believe upgrading the speakers will be a wiser desicion than spending $1500 on a cd player..so obviously I do not agree that the source must be the key factor in a set up, my Marantz cd 5000 is still very competent in comparison with newer and more expensive players.
(And no, my Marantz PM 7200 is definitely not the weak link, my B&W speakers sound better than they ever did - also I choose it over a Rotel RA-02 and NAD C352 which I auditioned at the same time).
So will Acoustic Enery Aegis 2 speakers do? The tweeter is a silk one, so I read. It could be an improvement on the metal dome ones of my B&W's?
Other candidates are JmLab Chorus 706S and B&W 601S3 (treble a bit steely) (I wasn't that impressed with Dynaudio Audience 42 speakers - though the treble performance (silk dome) was pretty good)
I'm not looking for accuracy, extreme insight in a recording and i'm not trying to create a system that comes close in re-producing Live music. A pair of speakers that will fill a room easily, that are easy on the highs (rather rounded than ear piercing) and have a nice depth and sounds natural...well to me of course...maybe I can name a cd to give an example of what I find to be a natural sound. Neil Young's "Zuma", the song "Cortez the Killer" for instance, nice "warm" sounding lows, no shrill highs, an 'honest' production - I doubt the song is mixed to the extreme, it also sounds as if it was recorded in one take. Another example would be Calexico's "The Black Light", considered to be a low-fi album, but it sounds just right to my ears. Classical recordings like Mahler 9, Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra (Philips), Stravinsky's Firebird and Bartok's "The Wooden Prince" by Dorati on Mercury, Bach's Mass in B by Herreweghe (Virgin) etc.
I rather have a pair of speakers that will make poor recordings sound acceptable than a very revealing, accurate and 'puristic' design, that tells me at times: "Tough luck loser, you should have bought audiophile recordings only!" And important: a speaker that isn't that much sensitive in placing to get an acceptable stereo image as my current B&W's are.