What to understand before floorstanding speakers purchase?

[BenWatts]

Hours?

Lovely finish. Good choice!

Let say it’s emotional. Of course : hours !

 

[Gray]

The bass kick is shaking my stomach.

And you're on the 3rd floor Ben 🤔
I hope your neighbours remain tolerant 👍

 

[nopiano]

The Obelisk si3 can drive them with no problem. I cannot go over 10’o clock on the volume knob.
The sensitivity appears huge to me.

Just looking back, you can understand now why I said your original unknown #1 would be needlessly loud!

I hope your neighbours approve too! 😉

 

[BenWatts]

Actually this morning several tests with my girlfriend.
- Melanie De Biasio your freedom is the end of me
- Erik Truffaz - Les choses de la vie and heaven
- Dream Theater - goodnight kiss
- Down - stone the crow
- Dire Straits - so far away
- Brad Mehldau - when it rains
- Mozart under the direction of Karl Böhm (original tapes)

… and I am lost.

Acoustic Energy appears easier to spread the sound. The surround us with the AE.

Recital Audio are far more bassy. Maybe a bit too much. Maybe the Obelisk is too bassy as well. I am not sure it misses some power.
Some details are missing when the mother talks to her baby on DT song : goodnight kiss.

Huge bass on Eric Truffaz. The trumpet is excellent in Heaven. But not better than with the old ones.

Down : better on recital audio. The LP has always been rich in high frequencies. I prefer the new ones. Regretfully for the moment. My 1,4k€ industrial models are super good competitors to the artisan made at 2,5k€.

On dire straits : the bass kick is blowing my mind. But choirs are maybe a bit far. The voice of Knopfler is different than the one I have in mind. James Labrie voice as well. Even John Petrucci lead sound is different than my referential.

The most weird experience is on Mozart Wiener philharmoniker recording. The orchestra is not that detailed. I was expecting a wider scene. I was expecting to be in the room with musicians. I am not. It sounds compact. On the contrary, voices are incredibly good! When the choirs sing Reeeex… I have strong emotions.

For now, I am lost and my decision is not made. I can save 2.4k! The sound is already excellent at home and I really recommend Acoustic Energy AE-120 mkII ! They compete with the huge recital audio.

I won’t swap my amp ! Maybe the Recital Audio deserve a better amp. This one is colored and not straight, nor analytic.

We moved the speakers, angles, more or less close to the wall (from 10cm to 50cm far away).
Speakers are distant from 3m and I am listening at 3m from each speaker.