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what speakers to buy

so this is my 1st time posting. the question is what speakers. i am going into this blind trying to put together a decent system on a budget. i live in a city where bose is considered the high end of high end and the nearest audiophile shops are hours away.
over the years i have owned a lot of vintage gear and still collect some of it. solid state and tube. some of the tube gear was marantz, macintosh, dynaco, heathkit, radio craftsmen, pilot etc. also the usual solid state marantz, pioneer, kenwood, adcom. speakers jbl, polk, altec (model 19 and vott), paradigm, klipsch, bozak, sansui, AR, advent. all the usual suspects
so far i have purchased a copland tube pre cta-305 and a pair of rogue audio m180 amps. all mint condition all under a year old for under half price of new. i also have a denon DP-60L TT 
(with sumiko pearl cartridge)
speaker budget is around 5000 give or take a 1000. if i'm patient i think i can find something that was originally in the 12-20k price range for what i want to spend.
so far i am leaning towards ew andra ii, dali euphonia 800, canton reference 3.2, revel studio ii. size is also a factor and all of these are within that limit.
i have a fairly large area open concept living /dinning and breakfast nook with high ceilings.
and i know "dont buy without listening" but not an option
so looking for some opinions/options

after speakers i will be getting tuner, cd and music server, current interconnects and speaker wire are all ZU mission


dragonbutx
corelli
974 posts
 
Lots of good choices out there.

I'd save the road trip.  To me, it's not very helpful to listen to a speaker in an unfamiliar room/electronics.  Just a poor way to make a big decision.  You have to do a home audition.

So taking a chance on the Tekton Double Impacts was the best audio decision I ever made.  These are great for rock but honestly do well with anything you throw at them.  You would really do yourself a disservice to not consider these. 

And in the interest of marital bliss, you'd come in $2-3000 UNDER budget!
electroslacker
375 posts
 
I'd wait to audition the new Elac AF-61 floorstander, which created a lot of buzz at the recent Munich and LA shows.  And they're $5000 a pair.  Worth a Google.

Maggie's have a soundstage and bass that you either like or don't, are room sensitive, and the ones I've heard seemed amp-sensitive...so more of a crapshoot if bought blind.


mesch
3,476 posts
 
Chlamersiv, What dealership in St Louis?


cycles2
205 posts
 
@gdhal, the Focal Utopia family has lots of models. An A'gon member suggested a pair of Utopia Alto Be's that are on A'gon with an asking price within the OP's budget. 

2channel8
758 posts
 
+1 for the Cantons. Best move I ever made.
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