How far, how much?

"How far, how much?"

Farther than I wanted, and more than I had planned.

I think Sidssp really summed it up well!!
I totally agree with what he said and wish more people would learn by what he said.

Braudio,

Pricing of a speaker is whatever the manufacturer thinks he can sell for. It has little direct correlation to how it sounds. A $5k speaker from brand A may not sound better than a $3k speaker from brand B. Often, depending on your system and your room, a $10k speaker may not sound better than a $5k speaker from the same brand.

What I am trying to say is don't use price alone to judge the sound quality of a speaker. You got to audition them yourself, preferably with your own equipment in your own room. If that isn't possible, at least audition them with equipment in the same class as yours and listen often with different equipment to get a true sense of the characteristic of the speaker. For example, if a speaker sounds aggressive in three different rooms driven by different amps of different brands, it most likely is an aggressive speaker.

One thing I have learned over the past 30 some odd years as an audiophile is that never judge a book by its cover and never judge a piece of audio equipment by its price.

UsBlues, I assume from your response that the "quantum leap" you refer to would exceed, say, 3k or so, correct? Does it make sense to have $5k speakers in the context of my rig?

That is a common mis-perception of the upgrading audiophile and we all made it no doubt.A quantum leap now in speakers will do more than you know though the odds say you wont make that move.Pity you cant demo something special at home,Best of luck,Bob

Thanks for the responses.

Likes and dislikes: I listen to jazz, blues, acoustic/roots music, some rock, some classical. I'm not a bass freak, but I don't want to feel like I'm missing the bottom end too much.

As to whether the Rega has enough power: I can see where that would be a concern, esp. from you guys who are pushing a lot of power. I'm holding off on that kind of rig until I have a dedicated listening room. My current room isn't huge and my listening volumes are reasonable, so I'm hoping this will not be an issue. Would the fact that the PSB Synchrony Ones are 4ohm make a difference?

As far as the Onkyo CDP: It is Stereophile class B so I don't think it is hurting me; there are better cdp's and I will consider and upgrade or an external DAC. But loudspeakers will come first.

In terms of budget: This is the point of the thread, really. Of course I'd like to spend less rather than more, but I am trying to determine how much I need to spend to achieve more than an incremental improvement. In the interest of system balance, my budget should probably be no more than 3k, used or new. Any more than that and it begs the question if I should be upgrading the other components as well.

PSB are excellent but the CD player is average. No speakers can improve the source. Rega makes very good inexpensive cd players.

You did not ask but I think your CDP is the weaker link and will readily show that with higher res speakers.

sounds like you're in the 1k range--the monitor rs6 is the giant killer at that price (also the larger rs8, which you should find used for a grand). i'm also partial to the von schweikert vr2, which is easily available used for $1200-1300 or used jmlab focal cobalt.

Excellent info Para for who what Im not sure.Could you be a little more vague?Cool,Bob

You are going to have to give us more info as to your likes vs dislikes. Are you looking for something a little laid back or right in your face. Do you like big bass or sacrifice some bottom to get a smaller, tighter package. Do you want new with a warrantee? There are lots of speakers out there, so think about what is important to you. It is a big investment.

Also consider the Vandersteen 1c. A great sounding, excellent value speaker. They are easy to drive and are time and phase accurate, as are all of Vandersteen's models.

A used pair of Vandersteen 2CE Sig IIs will offer you far more sophisticated drivers,Technology and just more natural performance with all of your music.
Perhaps later you can take advantage of the Regas pre amp out Main in feature and High Pass her and add a Vandy 2WQ for even higher level of performance with the system.
Cheers Johnnyr

If a speaker can't reproduce all genres of music well, then it's not an accurate speaker.

A person may prefer it, but all it means is that for some reason that person prefers not to hear accurate reproduction.

merlins would be perfect for that room.I had a Rega Luna for awhile and the combo was almost stunning.....

Rega 5.

What kind of music do you like? Not all speakers can produce all genres of music well.