Speaker recommendation

dorkwad,

Yes, I, too,had my Nuforce 9 amps upgraded by Bob Smith.
Wonderful amps.  Only ones I’ve tried that can drive my very power hungry Dahlquist speakers and make them sing.
Question for you: Did you listen to much classical music on the modded DI’s?
Same question regarding the Joules?

I second the Vandy suggestion. Tekton is not a subtle sound. Spend some time with the ears listening. Sonus Faber is also excellent. If you want a $10,000 speaker for $5,000 consider buying used-after listening to it!!

Thank you everyone here for your recommendations.
 I’ve investigated and read reviews on just about all the suggestions.
Im going to audition several  speakers at a local establishment, including B&W,
Paradigm and Magnepan among others.
Hopefully I can come to some conclusions.

rv,

To be honest, it's not my preferred genre.  I listen to all kinds of music, at different levels.  I'm not one that likes a speaker for only a couple types of music.  I do have some classical albums--maybe 12-15 total.  I would be amazed if classical didn't also sound very good on either.  I'll be putting the Joules on my Sistrum SP-101 platforms as soon as I can get some help doing so.  It will improved the sound in all ways making it more like live music.  I know the Dahlquist DQ-10s very well--never heard the 20s, however.  That was one of my early high end dream speakers when I was just out of college.  I liked many aspects of the sound, but they don't come alive like either of these 2 speakers.  Their bass is just respectable.  

I find a lot of people like Focal speakers for classical music.  Big soundstage, great dynamic performance (above average efficiency), good detail retrieval, but smooth.  At around your budget & room size I'd say at least an Aria 936 ($4K MSRP) or better yet : the 948 ($5K MSRP).

I'd make sure if you can to demo a pair of Arias.

Honestly a much better speaker than Tekton's.  The fit & finish on Tekton's is shockingly bad.  I've seen finish coming off and even surrounds starting to lift from drivers.  

Golden Ear build is nothing that much to get excited about either.  Nasty looking / feel plastic caps / footer.  I find them somewhat lumpy in the bass as well & though smooth, frankly a bit boring.