Best speakers to buy for around $1,500

Check out the Magneplanar .7 and the Vandersteen 1C. Both are in your price range.

MusicDirect Focal closeout. $2700/pr speakers for $1499, new w/warranty. It's a lot of very high quality speaker for that money.

I also like the Magneplanars a lot and my main pair are 1.7s, but in transitioning from Cerwin-Vega, the Focals will give you more of the slam, plus a captivating, airy soundstage, small footprint, and easy matching to your amplification.

What are you looking to improve upon? What aspects of sound reproduction and speaker characteristics are most important to you? Without this info it's impossible to make a good recommendation.

Revel Concerta F12: http://www.revelspeakers.com/productdetail/~/product/f12.html

JBL L890: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/407272-REG/JBL_L890_H_L890_Studio_L_Series.html

P.S. That Focal speaker looks good. I would definitely check that one out.

Common thread in this thread OP is that you have to give many parameters. For anyone who's just giving you speaker names, you can go to any site and look up speakers for under X amount, however no one knows what your room is or what your whole system is.

I can easily tell you to get a pair of Vandersteen 1's (new) as they don't smear and they are better than many speakers in that range that aren't quite as room dependent, plus they will be fuller range than most of the monitors that you will see in that range. Awesome bass for the price and neutral mids. Some of the best reviews out there if you Google them.

That said, they may or may not be your cup of tea. There are some monitors that will be great too, but what type of music are you listening to. If you run the CV's you possibly like rock and play loudly. If so, you need a speaker that will do that. You would probably want a fuller range speaker too.

If you are serious about your question, please come back and just start to talk to everyone. You'll get the same list of speakers from most of the posters, but you may get some great info to put you in the right direction. What part of the country are you in? Many of us have great dealers we love and can get you to some good folks who can help you make the right decision.

Just saying.....