$25k speakers, are we there yet?

All depends on what sound you are looking for.  The room treatment cannot change the tone or clarity or slam, or the separation as well as upgrading the parts in your components.  You have to know what makes something sound the way it does.  Think of old Counterpoint equipment for example.  Sounded pretty good back in the day but the parts today are so much better that what was used in them.   Upgrading the parts and a few other things takes you to a level you probably cannot buy today.  IMO to many people are chasing something in sound that they can already have with upgrading the parts quality and a few other items.  How do I know this, we have been repairing and upgrading audio components for over 20 years.  We have heard and compared more components than most people have heard.  It comes down to knowing what makes the sound you want.

Our listening room in Northern New Jersey is open for all to come listening and enjoy.

Happy Listening. 

My experience is that speakers are what actually make the sound and so will define the sound of your system more than anything else. Find something you really love and buy it. If the rest of yor components don't match up to your speakers, fine. Take time over years and upgrade things piece by piece. With each upgrade you'll hear a world of difference. My example is that I had a pair of Vandersteen 2Ce. I loved them. I ran them with an old Rogue 66 pre and m120 monoblocks. My main source was a project debut carbon. When the opportunity arose I upgraded my speakers to Vandersteen quatro woods. This was a huge step up. It sounded better but my components were not letting them shine completely. Over the course of the last 5 years I've upgraded my amps to m180s, upgraded my preamp twice now to an RP-7, upgraded my turntable twice now to a Brinkmann Bardo, upgraded my phonostage twice now to a rogers PA-2. When things sounded not quite as stellar as I though they should Iade some tweaks that isolated my speakers and gear from the floor. It sings like I've never heard before. And truthfully, the speakers are probably capable of more. 

My point, if I haven't successfully made it yet, is that go nuts on the speakers if you can. Fill the component gap later. You'll be increasingly happier as time goes by.

When I was speaker hunting, I really wanted to get a pair of KEF Blades, but couldn’t get to hear a pair and really couldn’t justify the price. I ended up buying the Reference 5’s. There was just something about paying over 25k for speakers.

@bigkidz +1

(I don’t also think that room treatment changes the direct sound.)

What do you need to hear/see/know about your speakers to take the next step and build a 20 year system around them?

I think if you are near NJ, then you have a solid offer from BigKids.
If you are elsewhere, then there are other good places.

I have heard some great speakers at $5K, $10k, $20k and $40k.
I am, totally confident that I could put together a great system from any of them.
So it doesn’t matter a whole lot as they generally do not have  much in the way of flaws at those price points.

I am really looking hard at a $5k set, in fact I am pretty committed, but it all went a bit sideways.
 

Yeah we still need front ends, and room treatments are seldom a bad thing. Minor treatments can sometimes even pass a WAF test.

I am not a fan boy of Vandersteen speakers but we have the 5As and 7s in the room.  With our components, they sound better than I have ever heard them at a dealer.  We also have Sonus Faber, Vivid, and Horning speakers.

All are welcome to come for a visit and bring a component or two.