1.750 GPB Speakers + Stereo Amp advice wanted

[munks]

He guys, i'm rather new to hi-fi equipment and would appreciate some advice. I'm looking to buy a stereo set with a € 2.000,- budget. I was thinking of spending € 1.400,- on speakers, € 500,- on a decent amp, and € 100,- on a music streamer for OTA ability whether it be an Apple TV or a Sonos Connect (I can get the latter one with a huge discount btw, so that's why it fits). I'm already stretching the budget so the € 2.000,- mark is pretty unnegotiable.

I love all kinds of music, e.g. classic (Bach), minimalistic (Yann Tiersen), indie (Feist, The XX), electronic & dance (Daft Punk, Baauer), trip hop (Bonobo). Just really depends on my mood. I should probably also mention my room has high ceilings, the exact measurements are: 6m x 4m x 3.4m. A few weeks ago (when I hadn't made up my mind yet about the budget), I auditioned a few speakers at a local store including the BW CM8, BW CM 10, KEF R500, KEF LS50, coupled to a variety of high-end (+ € 1.500,-) NAD and Marantz stereo amps. I was suprised to conclude that even after an hour or two, I was only mildy impressed with most of them. To my ears, all of these speakers seemed unbalanced (and in the case of CM8 even horribly muddy). That is until I tried the Dali Mentor 6! Holy crap! That's the sound i'm after, a truly large sound, dynamic, fun yet bright! I guess after years with my (trash) Behringer Truth 2030A monitors, I've developed a preference for a neutral sound while slightly favoring a good bass.

After reading up on loads of additional information and considering my budget constraints, i've narrowed the speakers down to the Tannoy Revolution DC6T SE or Dali Ikon 6 MKII. Here's why: The Tannoy's simply because they won the WHF 2012 awards and I have yet to stumble into a negative review on them. I guess that has very good reasons. The Dali's because i'm still blown away by the Mentor 6s i've auditioned earlier. I'm aware of the fact that when i'd go with the Ikon 6s, I will probably have to deal with a gap in performance compared to Mentors. However, i've read numerous times that the sound signature across the whole Dali brand tends and is supposed to be very alike.

As for the amp (compatibilty), I must admit I haven't dove into it as much yet. The Marantz PM6005 and Yamaha R-N500 were the ones i've shortlisted sofar.

What do you guys make of all this?

 

[munks]

No thoughts at all? I went back to the store btw, and it appears that the previous salesguy used an NAD amp which did the KEFs and BWs horribly wrong. I've totally misjudged them. Connected to the Cyrus 6A DAC, the KEFs became my absolute favorites while the Dali Ikon 6 MKII and especially the Monitor Audio Silver RX6 became screechy. However, the Cyrus is double the price of what I intended to pay for an amp. Plus, I don't feel much for sinking this amount of money in a device which looks like it came straight from a 1985 car's dashboard. The only thing missing there is the cassette tray :silenced:.

I'm currently leaning towards the KEF R500s with a Marantz PM6005. I know the KEFs probably deserves an better amp, but I don't think I can avoid doing some concessions in my first venture into hi-fi .

 

[BigH]

I would no go too much by awards, there have been many disappointed people who have done that, its about your taste. I have not heard the tAnnoys so no comment. If I were you I would set my sights a bit higher re the amps, not sure the Marantz will hack it in that room size. I would try to demo the Rega Brio R, Creek 50A and Arcam A19, the Creek was the best I heard out of those 3.