I first read this as "a terrible soft-dome tweeter"....
I actually meant to say "terrific".
I love the look of the wharfedales. Anyone have experience with these?
They are pretty small cabinets, which is probably the only reason I havent already ordered them. The soundcraftsman speakers I had were much bigger which gave them the big box sound and a really wide soundstage. Im looking for something that can reproduce that vintage big box sound.
You guys are have all been super helpful. Thank you all very much. Merry christmas, happy new year!
I have the Dentons. They have a nice, punchy bass for the size, smooth, gently-rolled-off highs, and liquidy-black-sounding mids ("Liquidy-black" as in, the mids have a nice, black background that is liquid-like... Excellent midrange imaging). I found them to be an excellent speaker for modern electronic music, surprisingly, and they also sounded great with old funky stuff like James Brown/the J.B.'s and that sort of thing. Check out the reviews for this model. Killer fit & finish for the price (the list price, I mean). LSA models are even nicer in that regard (Their $1000 a pair bookshelf speakers have the nicest veneers I've ever seen for a speaker in their class/price range).
How big is the room again? If it's got some size, you could always go bigger. Which model Marantz do you have? If you want a full-sized sound, a pair of old W70's like Brian mentioned (on page 1) would definitely fill the room, and even more so with a pair of W90's. I have the latter, and they are frigging bananas. Realistic, uber-natural bass that isn't overblown like with some speakers. The size is there though, don't get me wrong. They just sound RIGHT. And they are super-easy to drive. The early W*0 models favor tubes/tubelike gear and are the most-sensitive, while the later ones from the late '60's are not quite as sensitive, so they can handle a bit more power and aren't as finicky in terms of amplification and capacitors. But the later ones (I'm talking about the W*0D series here... Models like the W60D, W70D, and W90D) use a different tweeter (a purple-colored mylar dome/pressure tweeter) than the earlier ones (which use a cone-style tweeter). Both tweeters are excellent and have their merits. The W*0D models have slightly-better extension than the earlier ones (They're like a British-meets-East-Coast speaker), but the earlier ones with the cone tweeters just have that classic early Wharfedale sound. My W90's are the early ones, same as Brian's W70's. I think the W60D or W70D would be a great choice for you. The W60D's, like all W60-types, can be placed horizontally or vertically, and they sound ideal with around 30-50 watts per channel. The earlier W60's (no letter) only need like 15-30 watts per channel and can even be driven by little flea-powered SET amps, and the early W70's and W90's only need like 20-40 watts per channel. Those early W*0 models are very-sensitive. I think the W*0D series is a good place for you to start. You would love the look of them too. The W60D has been compared favorably to models like the AR3a. Smooth and dynamic, with a heavy engaging quality. The bigger models from this series are also worth a look. Affordable too.
One thing's for sure, my big W90's are here to stay. They're well-worth the huge footprint and massive weight (125lbs each). They have that WIDE soundstage you mentioned, and they hit the bullseye dead-center with classic-rock/pop/funk/soul/R&B/disco/classic punk/new wave, etc. I seriously would not trade mine for a pair of mint-looking Altec 19's, and that's the truth. It's not that they're BETTER than the 19's, necessarily. They're just better for ME. A true, listen-all-day, music-lover's speaker. Ultra-smooth, ultra-dynamic, ultra-musical, and full of life, and very-open-sounding. And they are extremely-flexible in terms of music. They're very-forgiving without giving everything that smoothed-over sound. It's like they sift through all the dirty and distortion and pull out the good stuff. Throw on some late '60's Stones, Beatles, or Hendrix, or something funky by the Commodores, Stevie Wonder, or even the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack, and they will FLOOR you.
