Best new/demo/used value for $7.5K range

Larry,

The Pipedreams I am familiar with are the big ones as I have a friend who owns them. These speakers are far from perfect though. He is having to re-engineer everything from the crossovers to the electronics in the subs! I think many audiophiles who gush over the Pipedreams are only hearing their positives. There are many little things amiss with these speakers that need to be addressed before I could declare them a complete and successful design.

Regarding GR Research's crossover design and their inherent dispersion characteristics; I suggest that you contact Danny Richie himself. He is NOT secretive about his design decisions or how he arrived at his topology choices. As far as I'm concerned Danny waaaaay above most other high end speaker designers.

Disclaimer: I am a Talon dealer.

Jtee...The Talon Raven-C is going to be VERY difficult to beat in the $5-$10k price range, IMHO. You can purchase them NEW with your given price range. A used pair will of course be even less. Obviously take my opinion with a "grain of salt", but I highly recommend the Raven-C. If you can find a pair of TRUE Khorus X MK2 (there are a lot of pseudo-MK2 versions floating around) for $7-8k, then that is a STEAL and you should jump all over it (around $12K for a used pair of true Khorus X MK2 is much more realistic and still a steal, IMHO).

Of the speakers others have mentioned, I like the Sophia (never been a Wilson fan, but I do like the Sophia) and the Verity Parsifal. You might also want to look into the Dali and Meadowlark lines. The only speaker in your list that I would avoid would be the B&W N802 (or any B&W speaker for that matter). Others will obviously disagree, but you can do MUCH better than B&W for usually much less money.

Best of luck in your search and don't hesitate to let me know if you have specific questions.

Best Regards...Mike - Father & Son Audio

Wow, you hit the B&W's pretty hard MIKE, wouldn't you say?? I have a friend who has a pair of B&W's and I think they sound pretty good. I have another friend who has the Talon Khorus X and I myself really don't care for them. It is ALL just a matter of opinion of course unless you are selling them right??

Easy there Btstrg...I clearly stated I was a Talon dealer and OBVIOUSLY it is my OPINION that I don't care for B&W. If you like them, great. A LOT of folks like B&W, I don't. No reason to get so defensive. If you own B&W, and enjoy them, it shouldn't matter to you what others think. If you don't like Talon, no problem, I respect your opinion. One thing that makes this hobby so fun is all of the different products that are available. Can you imagine if there was only one brand of speaker, one brand of amp, etc.? Yuck!

In case you didn't notice, I also recommended some brands that I don't sell. There are quite a few speakers that my dad and I like besides just the ones we carry, but we can't sell every speaker brand.

The speakers my dad and I carry are those that WE feel offer the most performance for the money. We hope others agree with us, but if they don't, no problem. I made a recommendation based on what I like, and yes, I just happen to sell them. This is why I always try and state upfront that I am a dealer for a particular brand I am commenting on. To do otherwise is dishonest and unethical. Ok, I will get off of my soapbox now ;-)

It may sound corny, but I tell my customers this all of the time: The BEST product for YOU is the product YOU like the BEST, NOT what someone else tells you is the best.

Best Regards...Mike - Father & Son Audio

Ehider,
Could your friend tell us what changes in the crossover your friend is making? Is that the external electronic crossover? Also, how about the sub electronics, what is your friend doing to the sub 'electronics'?
Also, I would be interested as to what electronics are in those particular subs?
Do you know which generation of pipes these are?
I would personally be unhappy buying an $80K pair of speakers and feel it necessary to do ANY work on them; especially since this design is proprietary, and what may simply LOOK like one thing, might be something else altogether. Also, if he is that gifted that he can improve on this rather expensive design, why not build his own pair to start with,rather than spend so much, only to have to rebuild them? Did he not take time investigating, before making such a large purchase? This sounds daunting to me.
Larry