Bookshelf speakers for Accuphase E-202 ?

duckrabbit

Member
Although my recently acquired E-202 “deserves” better I haven’t found anything to replace my trusty old Usher S-520 II. I’ve home-demoed the following, yet none of them clearly surpassed the Ushers, all things considered.

  • Quad 12 L: (only tried with my Quad 303): too relaxed and lazy, not much more detail, just more muddy bass
  • Harbeth 30.1 (only tried with my Quad 303): Good for string quartets and jazz but lacked punch, muddy bass, too big for my room (probably needed more watts)
  • Totem Dreamcatcher: beautiful alluring, tight, airy, clear, but simply too small. Otherwise these would have been perfect.
  • Totem Model 1 Signature (early 2000 model): beautiful detail and clarity, tight, but a bit too cold and analytical, not much punch - the best I’ve demoed though
  • Totem Rainmaker: top end and upper mids beautiful and alluring, wide and airy, but reduced mids and muddy bass (which was a surprise), boomy lower mids, very little punch
My Accuphase tends to get a bit sluggish in the bass so tightness would be needed. Bass down to 55 hz is enough, otherwise it will get out of control in my room (5x 4 m)

I’m looking for tight bass, sweetness and air in the mids and highs, and wide soundstage. As said, the Dreamcatchers had just the right tone but the cabinets just made them sound too small and hollow in my room.

I’m considering at least the following:

ATC SCM11 (detail and tightness, but too clinical even with the Accuphase?)

ATC SCM19 (will the Accuphase have enough watts? I could get these for 2000 e)

KEF R3 (look great, interesting review in whifi, but too much bass?)

Harbeth P3ESR (if these are as good as they say for chamber music, maybe I could live with the lack of sub 60 hz?)

Budget max 2000 euros. Suggestions?
 
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Thanks. Yeah but obviously that doesn't mean knowing about other people's experiences couldn't be helpful.

Anyway it seems this is not the most active sub forum for this type of question.
 
The E-202 has a specific tone that could be described as wide, airy, relaxed and warm yet very detailed. It is not very punchy or dynamic. The reason I posted in this subforum is to know about experiences on matching speakers with their E-202's.

I've been reading a lot of threads etc. about the ATC SCM11 and SCM19s. It seems their tight and dynamic nature could have good synergy with the E-202. But I wonder if they would sound too sharp in the upper mids or otherwise too fatiguing and whether the E-202 has enough watts to keep their tone balanced at lower volume. Another strong candidate is therefore the Harbeth P3ESR which should sound sweeter and requires less watts. But the lack of sub 60 hz is a slight worry, although I'm very not bass hungry (and don't like subwoofers).

Have you listened to Dynaudios.

I haven't. Which ones? Would you recommend them with the E-202?

Kef LS-50 May be worth a try.

Those were on my shortlist until I found out about the upcoming KEF R3's to be released next month here in Europe. The WTF review is promising and TBH the LS-50 look a bit hideous to me :)
 
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Thanks, that's an interesting shootout (though not so detailed), direct comparisons are always useful. But the Dynaudio Special 40s are about EUR 3k so 1000 over my budget and it seems they were driven by 500 watts of power. Dynaudio has a good rep in also their lesser models but it seems they don't stand out quite like the ATCs or Harbeth P3. Experiences on matching the Dyns with the Accuphase would of course be interesting.

Nice to have some life in this thread anyway.
 
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I see that you have a couple of Totem models on your list. I apologize for not getting the model numbers but their rep was featured a new mini-tower (2 4" woofers and a 1" tweeter) that I thought was a bit uneven with its performance with different types of music. However towards the end he connected a pair of bookshelf speakers that he said run around $1850 US and I thought they sounded better than the mini-towers and were very impressive until I heard the Dynaudios. Perhaps you can figure out what model I heard based on the price but I think you might like them.
 
Kef LS-50 May be worth a try.

So yesterday very shortly, about 15 min, I auditioned the KEF R3 in a hifi store. Unfortunately I wasn't very impressed although the sound was undeniably detailed and very balanced throughout the spectrum. They sounded very dry, analytical, non-airy and thus not very musical. However - and I really emphasise this - I suspect that this impression was largely due to the amp which was an Arcam of 200 watts, I think the P349. This amp is probably not of my taste at all and totally different (i.e. dryer and colder) sounding than my beloved Accuphase.

The salesperson told me that compared to the LS-50 he hears much more details in the R3. But I think the R3 has too much bass for me.

So today I got the LS-50 for home audition. I've just pressed play on a Gary Peacock Trio CD (ECM). I'll post some impressions later.
 
The LS50 are very good speakers and match reasonably well with the Accuphase. They are well balanced and quite musical speakers. The way they pick out even the most subtle transients is impressive. The imaging is strong but very pin sharp. Contrary to what some say, I don't find these speakers fatiguing or bright at all in my setup. However, there is one major flaw for me: they are not airy and the textures are not so clear: the reverbs are very reduced and the bass is often a bit muffled. Even though the bass is very tight, heavier bass drums (e.g. 909 kick drum) are a bit forced and restrained. So they seem to have the same dryness as the R3 I auditioned in the store: it was exceptionally easy to follow overlapping kick drums and bass lines with the R3, but they just didn't sound that good. If the music is airy with lots of reverb and lighter in the bass (e.g. Enya's Orinoco Flow or early 80's Italo Disco) the LS50 sound fantastic. But for bassy music and for acoustic chamber music, in particular string quartets and jazz, they are a bit disappointing.

So my hunt goes on. I'm seriously considering ATCs now.
 
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How about some Spendors? The house sound strives for balance and musicality above all.

I'm very happy with my floor-standing A6Rs with a contemporary Sony integrated amp at 80 wpc (DIN). The Spendors are in your price range although I don't know if that specific model is still offered. 8 ohms and supposedly easy to drive.

Just don't expect them to sound like Klipsch or JBLs.
 
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