Replacing my Martin Logan SL3 speakers.

I had the SL3's and liked them very much. A step up from there would be either a pair of Vandersteen 2's or 3's. They are just as coherent as your panels but offer more resolution and body. I highly recommend you listen to them first, though. They're not as forgiving as your SL-3's. If you listen to a lot of bad recordings, its something to keep in mind. If you can find a good pair of ProAc 2.5's, you will probably like them as well. They fall somewhere in between the ML's and the Vandersteens.

Why are you replacing the SL3s with box speakers? Why not grab a pair of Prodigy's used for less than $5,000?

I have not tried the Prodigy but I did try the Ascent recently. The Ascents were less efficient and the panels did not seem to integrate as well with the woofers. I much prefer the sound of my SL3s. The other problem is that ML does not seem to support the older models very well. I have had the SL3s since 1997. I think that I want to try a box speaker for awhile.

Harbeth Compact Model 7 or or the larger Harbeth models