Thankfully I don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad. Additionally most of the main stream review will be on main stream higher volume speakers. The overwhelming majority of reviews for the higher end is going to be written reviews and that’s probably a good thing.
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I listen to a lot of different stuff but if I had to rank them by how much I listen:
- Electronic (mostly psy trance)
- Classic rock and blues (Clapton, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen etc)
- Vocal / indie / alternative
- Classical (mostly piano, think Chopin Bach or orchestral, Beethoven)
- Jazz (random playlists and whatever qobuz/roon plays for me)
Sonic traits:
Generally speaking I rank: mid > bass > subbass > treble
I prefer neutral to neutral-warm sound signatures, a bit sensitive to treble peaks. I’m ok with a little drier presentation if I get more because of it in other ways. Definitely musical over analytical.
And using M0N’s glossary, my priorities usually are the following:
Highest: Resolution/Detail, Speed, Placement Accuracy, Presentation Organicness, Tonality Organicness
High: Separation, Impact & Slam, Midrange Texture, Bass Texture, Bass Extension, Liquidity, Coherency, Overall Midrange, Overall Bass
Medium: Control & Grip, Microdynamics, Macrodynamics, Background Blackness, Stage Width, Stage Depth, Timbre, Tonal Density Quality, Smoothness, Energy & Incisiveness, Overall Subbass
Low: Treble Extension, Tonal Density Quantity, Forwardness, Forgivingness, Overall Treble
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Are you still in CA or east coast now?
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mostly east coast
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I wish i had more of an encyclopedic knowledge of speakers for recommendations but i don’t. I know harbeth pretty well though and there are a few compact 7 es3 near you for about 2k. They excel with timbre, organicness, mids, vocals, liquidity, and density. Scale for days. They aren’t super speedy or detailed but they are fun and you can listen for hours. If you like them, you can move up to 30.2xd for about 4k now
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And just to confirm your electronic purchases, all of my individual electronics are worth double of my speakers lol
Still scaling too 
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would they require a subwoofer to reach very low for the more electronic bass heavy music? they also don’t seem super sensitive not sure if that’ll be challenge for the z40, probably fine though.
have you heard anything of/about Q Acoustics (also British speakers)? more specifically asking about the Concept 50?
And what about the Spatial M4 Ultra? or Daedalus Audio Muse that’s sold on the LTA website?
Hi, as usual the answer is “it depends”
Moneywise you are absolute fine to start with… €2-3k!
- Size of the relevant room
- 1st Decision: bookshelf versus floor standing speakers
- Read the specs of your AMP to start searching for an matching speaker
- Go for used ones, if you wanna start a bit higher range (like getting better efficiency/sensitive rating)
- As you hear all kind of music genres: focus on good balance of all frequencies (mid/low/high)
- Search for your Top3 brands you’d like and try to find an retailer to perform some life listening comparison (be careful that he is using similar AMP to yours!)
Hints:
- Don’t focus too much on mainstream speakers, as you’ll see at GR Research Videos how he modifies > known brands like Klipsch, KEF etc, do use chip components in lower price range & you pay lot’s for the brand!
- Don’t get fooled with speaker cables right in the beginning, in the lower price range you are better to replace the crossover in the speakers
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The LTA are going to require a more correct choice of speaker to sound their best. The Z40 will give you more flexibility than the UL but it will still work best with 8 ohm speakers that don’t dip. So as close to a nominal 8 ohm as possible. One thing I’ve noticed from reading a lot of reviews, is they’re not going to work their best with 4 Ohm or speakers that dip down to 4 ohms or speakers with large resistance swings.
I specifically had to sell my lovely BMR speakers because I knew they would not be a good fit.
Ok that’s super important to know since the Q Acoustics I was looking at is nominal 6ohm and can dip to 4ohm. 90.5 sensitivity though which is quite good for that.
I was reading the Twittering Machines review and they seemed to work well with the Z40 but I’ll keep researching.
Might still give them a try since I got an offer for 25% less than retail and 60 day at home audition on them of desired
That alone won’t be the issue, 6 ohm is probably fine for the Z40. The issue is basically going to be the swing and dips and where they are in the FR. The tighter the swing the better they should pair.
Some speakers will have swings like from 12 ohm to 3.5 ohm and that’s the kind of stuff it won’t like. The UL certainly wont. The Z40 is more flexible because of the extra power but it will still require a careful choice especially since you’re demanding more impeccable mid bass, exactly where a lot of speakers will start to dip and become a harder drive for the LTA.
EDIT: you’re doing this backwards and buying the speaker last is not best practice so you’re going to have to compensate by making choices in a narrower range. It’s not like it can’t be done though, but you may not pick the best thing if you stray from the known good pairing for the amp.
Talk to Mark at LTA and get his opinion, but if you for things like Spatials, Omegas, Voxitiv, even Zu speakers will be a good pairing and will do the classic rock and EDM you’re looking for with a lot of authority.
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Thanks for the advice. Makes sense. I understand the swinging concept and how that will affect the music, especially for classical and electronic.
Will adding subwoofers help with that at all?
And a small correction: psy trance and generally speaking trance music is far from what’s known as EDM, both in what sounds it usually has and how the music is structured. Just an fyi as you may insult some trance followers lol
lol, i’m bad with labels. ignorant even!
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You have a good understanding of the sound characteristics you want. Based on your musical preferences I would personally avoid open baffle style, not necessarily set up for the type of lower end I THINK you desire.
A box type tower will probably be much better suited for your desired sound characteristics. Again reading your desires, I would consider adding a matched pair of subwoofers to allow you to adjust bass “hit/slam/shake” for the louder genre’s.
Your room size and ability to move your seating position for your most desired characteristics will play a considerable role in the bass performance, this is simply a “food for thought” comment.
There are so many hundreds of speakers to consider, the used market will allow you to maximize your budget. Don’t rush, shipping will kill on used speakers, and most folks don’t know how to properly palletize them BUT the right seller with the right used pair IS a bargain and solid value in the used world. Don’t be scared to drive upwards of 5 or 6 hours for a solid deal and ask questions and for picture proof if necessary or the deal seems too good.
Prices have gone up recently across the board, but fewer people have cash so that may work to your benefit depending on your own scenario. I know you are excited but I would not suggest rushing, large speakers are hard to sell locally if you are not satisfied, depending on where you live.
Good luck and much happy listening always!
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Talking about Sub’s, before starting with some decent entry level 2/3way speakers?
I’d not recommend. Also already complicating + costs increasing a lot with those initial setup…
Open Baflle or Single-driver in this range I’d not go at all. This also heavily relies on proper amp/pre-amp matching!
DONT RUSH & LISTEN FIRST!
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thanks everyone solid tips here all over.
I need to read this a few more times and make sense of it all because some of this seems contradicting on the surface at least. Will also look for some dealers around that I can go have a listen to technologies I’m not familiar with.
The LTA website has this in their FAQ: “Some of the wide variety of speakers that have been heard to work well with ZOTL amplification: Quad 57s, Maggie Minis, Tekton Design, Fern & Roby, Voxativ, Janszen, Decware, Klipsch, Silverline, Spatial, DeVore, Daedalus, Zu, Ryan, Living Voice, Omega, and many others.”
My plan is to read enough to understand better the house sounds so I can narrow down my options (so far Spatial seem to get the most recommendations), the different technologies (open baffle vs electrostatic vs more standard stuff) and how that will work in my room and for what I’m looking for.
I wrote a really long piece with recommendations and then decided to delete it. Your enjoyment and putting the electronic music up top is what makes recommendations w/ a lower power system so very difficult for some of us. It’s that one genre that throws off everything you wrote and ask for. Electronic style bass and “high end” are a hard mix to bring together. Especially if you are a real basshead. I had to completely change my way of thinking and what I enjoy to find a happy medium and I still overpower my speakers with bass at times.
If you put that one genre lower on the scale of enjoyment your high sensitivity speaker options open up a hundred fold. At least that’s my honest opinion while trying to be helpful 
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I’ll agree with this, your unlikely to find a full range speaker with enough Sub Bass , and control of it that you can drive from a lower powered amp.
I think you do end up having to go Subs to get the amplification of the bass off the main amp, to make it work.
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^^ Both of these are true and best practice IMO.
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I mean there’s no reason to feel sorry I bought an amp on a good deal and if it doesn’t work out I’ll sell it, worth a shot to try some new stuff that’s how I perceive it at least.
I’ve always had subs in my systems (have a svs one here now) and I’m quite sure no matter what I end up with the new 2ch is going to have at least one as well. One of the reasons I liked the Z40+ is the subwoofer out that the Enleum would’ve made much harder to integrate with. Doesn’t mean there aren’t better separates or integrated options that I should and probably will explore, happy to hear suggestions for that as well.
I think part of the problem with this hobby is that perfectionism to try and squeeze every ounce of performance of every piece of gear and chasing specific components but honestly I’m not trying to. It felt wrong to use everything I have with an entry level integrated and this came up so I bought it on a whim. Maybe I picked the wrong one; won’t know until I try but I rather try and lose a few hundred dollars along the way then wait for the next one to show up used if it ends up being what I was looking for. That said, I think it’s better to buy components that’ll work good with the amp and decide if it’s enough for what I’m looking for. It’s certainly going to be the best system I ever had here even if it works 75% of it’s potential performance and if it fits only part of what I listen to.
I’m using the Susvara today for most of my listening and it has sufficient bass for the music I listen to. Heck even my bookshelves with the SVS driven by an av receiver is enjoyable most of the time. I’m not looking for 100db blasting the windows and shaking the house. Electronic music isn’t what I would consider critical listening, it’s about rythm speed and thump, all of which a subwoofer is sure to provide.
EDIT
@NickMimi I’d love to hear your recommendations and what tradeoffs they bring with them, I’m sorry you felt you need to delete that and appreciate trying to help. For me tradeoffs are part of building a system that will fit me and no one else imo and you can’t have it all. I know that very well, I won’t focus solely on sub bass and electronic music because I will lose so much other stuff. That’s what live music and gatherings in nature are for.
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