I'm posting this for a friend who's in the market for new speakers but currently doesn't have the time to research as much as he'd like.
A bit of background, he has some mid priced (~about EUR 2k new) floorstanders made by a company that's completely obscure to me, I can't even remember the name right now except that they're made in the Netherlands. They sound detailed but IMO lack bass (especially for the size) and I'd characterize the staging as a wall of sound. Especially no depth. We listened to them in a few different rooms with different electronics but the signature remained unchanged. Definitely not something I would prefer, especially over my speakers. A friend of his who used to work for a radio station and has presumably some exposure to quality audio visited and said the same thing, which finally made him want to upgrade.
Now, this may be controversial to some but in my limited experience spatial qualities of sound are an intrinsic quality of the speakers. Positioning helps to a point and electronics can blur the stage, especially at higher volumes. But I've never had an experience where speakers were transformed beyond recognition by electronics.
Since my days when I used to have the occasion to listen to various systems regularly, visit audio shows etc are a distant memory, I can't recommend him anything, especially since he's willing to spend a few thousand euros. But his willingness to upgrade made me want to post this for him, since I happen to think spectacularly spatial sound is the one thing that misses in most audio systems. This doesn't need to be about this specific recommendation (although I hope that it can help narrow the search) but anyone willing to share about their experiences with this is welcome.
A bit of background, he has some mid priced (~about EUR 2k new) floorstanders made by a company that's completely obscure to me, I can't even remember the name right now except that they're made in the Netherlands. They sound detailed but IMO lack bass (especially for the size) and I'd characterize the staging as a wall of sound. Especially no depth. We listened to them in a few different rooms with different electronics but the signature remained unchanged. Definitely not something I would prefer, especially over my speakers. A friend of his who used to work for a radio station and has presumably some exposure to quality audio visited and said the same thing, which finally made him want to upgrade.
Now, this may be controversial to some but in my limited experience spatial qualities of sound are an intrinsic quality of the speakers. Positioning helps to a point and electronics can blur the stage, especially at higher volumes. But I've never had an experience where speakers were transformed beyond recognition by electronics.
Since my days when I used to have the occasion to listen to various systems regularly, visit audio shows etc are a distant memory, I can't recommend him anything, especially since he's willing to spend a few thousand euros. But his willingness to upgrade made me want to post this for him, since I happen to think spectacularly spatial sound is the one thing that misses in most audio systems. This doesn't need to be about this specific recommendation (although I hope that it can help narrow the search) but anyone willing to share about their experiences with this is welcome.
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