Speakers with good rhythm

Have folks heard any speakers (new / old / stand mounts / floor standers) that they thought were especially good at conveying rhythm?

Even some speakers that I would describe as musical and engaging can still be a bit ‘stiff’ as if they filtered away some of the rhythmic qualities that exist within many forms of music. I’m interested in speakers which preserve this quality as best as possible.

I have.

JBL L100 and anything that came out of the Naim factory.

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What’s your budget?

ATC, Naim and Russell K

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ATC, really fast and accurate but natural.

Naim Ovator work for me - extraordinary timing in particular

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Exactly the same list I would have given…

SL2s and Allaes

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Nah! Ibls and sbls - in that order.

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Hi Murmur,

I don’t think a list of makes will be particularly helpful. Everything is system dependent, including & perhaps especially your room.

For instance, above the Allaes have been mentioned, and I know a number of people who think well of them - they didn’t work in my room. BUT, that was NOT because of PRAT, it was because of the vocals. Does the rhythm outweigh ALL other considerations for you?

That said, making your list longer with other potential makes/models: Linn Kan; ART; and, Focal.

M

I lived very happily for years with a pair of Epos ES14s on the end of a high end system because I couldn’t find anything which improved on their pacing.

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I don’t know if any speakers are designed for rhythm specifically and what their parameters would be…independent of the system they are attached to…

Isn’t interdependence the core of musicality?

Audiovector ( usually) makes good synergy with Naim, and have the característics of sound you want.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Although there is a budget and all sorts of other limitations (power, room size, etc.), I didn’t want to limit the list at this stage.

Rhythm is not the only consideration but I wanted it to be the focus of this thread.

What did you eventually replace the ES14’s with? Very happy with mine still, but will eventually replace them. Thinking Spendor or PMC as a starting point…

Sadly mine were taken out by a lightning strike when I was away after nearly 25 years of use, the 135 on the left channel had to go back to Salisbury for major surgery, and when it returned I had no functioning woofer in the left speaker. I decided to go for a different style totally, and now drive B&W804S with 52/SC/135s.

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Any good full range speaker with even response should be quite capable of revealing what rhythmic elements are in the recording on the disks or in the files you play. If you mean you want a speaker that emphasises the rhythm, maybe bringing it out when it isn’t dominent in the mix, then for some music at least I guess a speaker that has output that peaks around the snare and bass drum and maybe hi-hat dominant frequencies, and diminishes other aspects of the music, may help to do that.

No, I don’t want it to be emphasised. I just don’t want it diminished. I’ve tried some speakers that were run in and musical but somewhat stiff when listening to some soul or funk, for example, and I think ‘what’s happpened to this song?’ The stiff speakers remind me somewhat of my dreadful dancing but that’s another matter :slight_smile:

Epos ES11
Neat Petite (and Neat in general)
Flat Earth era Naim, Linn, Rega…

ATC are not good rhythmically, IME.

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