What is under $5k speaker with best bass slam?

Doug,

As a fellow drummer, I'll chime in with an opinion. If what you are after is for the low end to be more "lively", then strictly looking for slam capabilities may still leave you wanting. I actually found what I wanted by looking for an extremely balanced and well staged speaker top to bottom. With the midrange especially cleaned up, the stage opened up to the point it was much easier to hear the definition in the low end and it was less of a struggle to follow. I especially want to follow the subtleties of the kick and the baseline and that's what really enabled it for me.

I eventually settled on the ProAC Response 1sc (about $2,500 new, but used on the 'gone for under 2k). They may be too small for a 400 square foot space, but they'd fill a 12 x 12 easily.

Bottom line - if you want to get "involved" with the music and really 'feel' it, you need to be able to hear it clearly. Your milage may vary, but something to think about.

A guy I bought an amp from had the the SCM 150's and played traditional Japanese and Chinese drum music on them - holy crap! Explosive dynamics, incredible timbre, and sheer power. Yet, everything was crystal clear.

Holy crap! - is a fair assessment - it is almost impossible not to flinch or blink when you crank a pair of SCM150's on uncompressed drum music (those rare recordings like the Naxos Hok-Man Yim Poems if Thunder or Sheffield Labs Drum track). It can still startle you even though you know what is coming and when (after having heard the tracks many times).

selah audio galena- 2 aurasound 10" high excursion, high bandwith woofers, flat to 30hz. super detailed articulate bass slam

OK, I answered this previously, but thought that I would chime in again with a much different answer. I finally have my new sub (SVS PC 13 Ultra) tuned into my front speakers (Maggie 3.6R's) with a Velodyne SMS-1 sub equalizer and man, SLAM!!! Of course it's mostly the sub, but it really makes a huge differnce, and it's very well integrated. No sloppiness and a huge amount of air being moved. Songs such as the helicopter intro track and the beginning of "Another Brick in the Wall", the kick drum on "Hotel California", Toni Braxton's "Your Makin' Me High", and the first few bars of "Dead and Bloated" literally explode. More subtle and measured bass passages such as those on the whole Tierney Sutton album Dancing in the Dark, are fantastic as well. I'm happy about the Slammin' combination. Big loud sub tamed with the Velodyne system, and integrated into my Maggies. Very highly recommend. Well the Velodyne system for sure.

The Gershman Avant Gardes with their itty bitty 8" woofers go down to a respectable 27Hz and have good control and slam. They're quite impressive for their size.