Reccomended towers for $5,000 / pair or less

[Gyosa1]

Ascend ELX towers , if you could stretch the budget , get the ribbons…

Bk

 

[Waxx]

Kef R11 is great for this (when you use a sub), but over budget i thought. The Mofi and Revels are also neutral in sound and could be your thing. But for rock a bigger woofer is often needed, so i would go back to JBL style speakers. The Heco mentioned could be that, but i never heared it or saw measurements. The main thing to keep in mind is that your room is big so you need quiet a bit volume to fill it, and that is where your actual speakers fail. You drive them to (low) distortion to get loud enough, especially on the tweeter. You need speakers that can go loud (+105dB) without going into distortion that you can hear (-40dB on the tweeter).

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Ascend ELX towers , if you could stretch the budget , get the ribbons…

Ime, the domes are better for rock.

 

[Mort]

Ime, the domes for rock.

Eeeeeeewww no.

 

[DanielT]

It doesn't "have to be" a tower. That said, I prefer the look of a tower vs a smaller speaker on a stand, so it although it doesn't have to be, I think its very likely to be.

I still think the Mofi 888s are in the lead, but now I am thinking about streatching the budget and getting the Mofi V10, but its kinda big, a bit over intended budget, and might not have a good spouse acceptance factor.

These, given your budget, are an option for you to consider. They seem to be excellent, with an excellent price. They have already created a hype in a few days.
I mean 21 pages in the thread about them.
Around $1800 for a pair:

Palmer ORBIT 11 Cardioid Coaxial 3-way studio monitor (MSRP 799€/899$)

Well then, this is a splash, this monitor basically throws all the en vogue technologies in a single product and does it at a price that is impressively low for its reported capability. And it looks really nice too. Official description (link): The Palmer ORBIT 11 is an active coaxial 3-way...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Plus, speaker stands. Contact some local small carpentry shop, small metal/welding shop (support local business) and create custom speaker stands.

That said, I missed what your listening distance is? If these actives would be an option for you, that is. They have pretty good SPL though and you have subwoofers so they might be an option.
Also missed if there are more people in the family listening at the same time? If so, the speaker's dispersion should be taken into account (it always should). If you only listen to music when you move around the listening room, omnispeakers can be an option, for example.

Another tip:
These, passive speakers in that price range, tower better probably can't be found:

• MSRP: $ 799/each

All in all, this is a fantastic showing for a loudspeaker of this price point. I’ve tested a good number of much more expensive speakers that would be very hard-pressed indeed to match this performance.

HECO Aurora 1000 Floorstanding Loudspeaker Review

The German made Heco Aurora 1000 floor-standing speakers ($799/ea) were put through the wringer with our in depth measurement testing and yielded surprising results. Are these the speakers to get?

www.audioholics.com

 

[dan_uk]

Can you stretch to a pair of "Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G"? Think they RRP is about $6k, however not sure if you can get discounts or have cheap search engines.

 

[Gyosa1]

Ime, the domes are better for rock.

Yeah , mine have the Raal ribbons … can’t imagine ever having a different tweeter.

Bk

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Yeah , mine have the Raal ribbons … can’t imagine ever having a different tweeter.

Have you heard both?

 

[Mort]

One doesn't need to. The directivity measurement tells us what we need to know. But yes is the answer. The whole reason to get the elx is the ribbon. Otherwise it's just an average speaker.

Philharmonic makes a version of the elx called HT tower. It's more attractive.

 

[Gyosa1]

Have you heard both?

Yes

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Yeah , mine [Ascend EXL towers] have the Raal ribbons … can’t imagine ever having a different tweeter.

Interesting. I found the ribbons better for genres other than rock at high volume.

Although not both towers, also an interesting comparison as the OP already has some quality subs.

 

[Mort]

It's absolutely a matter of taste.

A well executed MTM ribbon has a special quality to it, a pleasant reverberance. I only know the ones from ascend and Philharmonic audio. Each speaker is competent like many others from KEF, Perlstein etc.. what sets them apart is the MTM /ribbon. The controlled, wide directivity projects a wider sound stage, bigger sound. Again. in my experience it adds something complementary with acoustic recording especially.

If one doesn't like the RAAL ribbon sound, go the other direction entirely and try a pair of tower coaxials. The soundstage will clarify significantly.

I like and own both types, wide ribbon and narrow coaxials.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

If one doesn't like the RAAL ribbon sound, go the other direction entirely

The vendor in question offers this model in both ribbon and dome versions.

 

[ZolaIII]

Meh... Polk R700.

Measurements for speaker Polk Audio Reserve R700

www.spinorama.org

 

[Mort]

The vendor in question offers this model in both ribbon and dome versions.

I'm aware. Dome is uninteresting

 

[izeek]

considering im a jbl fanboy, the jbl hdi3800s would be my recommendation. strong, authorative, balanced.

 

[tw 2022]

Let’s see… who is better the Beatles or Rolling Stones? For me the philharmonics, but you put your money to the one you like best and never look at another audio review again. Cancel all feeds to all audio sites and I promise you’ll have great speakers for the rest of your days.

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