2017 ‘Keeper’ speakers under - $25K


Heading towards the second half of 2017, I thought to ask here what other’s feel based on their experiences, wants or desires, exactly which recent production speakers under $25K, would be the ones you would want to marry.

Or be in a very long term fundamentally though not totally committed, relationship.

One wherein if they promise to satisfy on demand, you promise to keep them clean and sufficiently supplied with power and the purest of signals, not to leave dirty clothes on the floor, and to take the trash out daily, er, uh, regularly.

Actually, those last two items are predominately conscience driven and do not command perfect adherence.

Which speakers hands down just flat out captivated your attention, fancy, or were so compelling they made a significant impact.

In short, Speakers that have taken your breath away .

As speakers are merely one part of the ching let’s qualify things somewhat.

1. Speakers which can run very well in medium sized rooms. EX. 14 to 18ft wide, and 17 to 25ft long or deep, with ceilings from 8.5ft to 10ft H, or so.

2. If a sub was or should have been added, please, mention that as well.

3. If an Ultra high end setup, massive SS power amps, Tubes, or flea watt amps, were feeding and or driving them noting it would be appropriate.

4. Recent production since 2015. New or used.

Although it seems prudent to list only current production speakers, I know adding on the facet of pre-owned adds a lot more choices for the ‘desert island’ I got mine, you get your’s, scenario, but what the hey. It beats that 250 to 500 plus hours of run in new units usually insist upon.

If links to accounts or info on them is available, please include it.

As this is about options anyhow, let no design be excluded.

blindjim
Quad, Sound Labs, big Maggies, etc.

see the trend?

Persona, Revel, Vandies, etc. if you cannot live with giant panels in the room

at a certain point, the best SQ/$$ will be obtained by building a listening room for the speakers...
In that range I'd look at: Wilson Sasha (version I or II), Eggelstonworks Andra III, Vandersteen Quatro Wood and Magico S3 or S5.
The wedding vow thing always intimidated me a bit (although I've been married for a long long time), but equating that to speakers made me laugh. Anyway, if you want a commitment, I guess Lowther speakers are the way to go. This is straight from there website: 

 Lowther Is For Life

What we mean is that once Lowther Loudspeakers are listened to, audio and hi-fi perfectionists stay with them for life, and those that stray come back. The reproduction is the most life-like available, and gives the feeling of being in the concert hall.

Marketing aside... My experience with them has been positive & I've been listening to them for approx. 15 years. They do require low powered tube amps (single ended preferred IMHO). I have the fideleo horn cabinets & use an REL sub for deep bass, as Lowthers in this cabinet have very little by themselves. What they do have is speed with a wide deep stage & wonderful 3d imaging. You can get speaker cabinet plans free with your purchase of drivers from "Commonsense Audio". There are a lot of different configurations. If you're inclined you can make them yourself. If not, a cabinet maker could do it for you. Either way, you'll be way below the 25K mark including the sub. I don't see them mentioned much around audiogon so suspect others have a different opinion on there value than I do. 


for life?

that could be 40 years if bought about age 30

I'd think technological advances in cone materials, surrounds, etc. would occur over that time period (besides the ability to run numerical calculations for a non-rectangular enclosure & etc.) -- diffraction effects, phase alignment and other things have all occurred in my lifetime and I expect others will too

I only kept my first set of Maggies for 20 years or so and very significant upgrades were made in that time period.