Best Speakers to Audition in the $5-10k range?

Merlin VSM-MX should definitely be on your list, IMHO.

PMC OB-1 seems to fit your needs, you may find you need more power but that is only a small chance.

The Paradigms mentioned above would be the only speakers anywhere near the PMC's infitting your needs, the Vandy Quattro's are just too ugly (a highly subjective thing of course).

All due respect to the other's mentioned, most are not "small" foot prints and Dipoles make the worst theater speakers....5+5.1 anyone?

Gallo reference III (?) terrible midrange dynamics for theater and the Merin is a pretty small in your price range to measure up to other options that are available.

PS: Sleeper pick DALI Helicon 800 and Dynaudio Contour towers should also make your list.

Make sure whichever speaker you choose a proper matching center is available if you cannot use a third tower for the front.

Happy Shopping.

I completely disagree with Cinematic systems regarding the Gallos Ref III, and pretty much every reviewer who has ever listened to them disagrees as well. I owned these for a couple of months, and they were spectacular speakers, regardless of price. When taking into account the abilty to run the second coil on the woofer as a sub, they are an AMAZING cinema speaker. If you match the very affordable Gallo Due (actually you could use 2) for a center and rears as well, you get an incredibly affordable Reference level system. With the amplification you have, this would be an amazing set up.

With regard to the "Dipoles make the the worst theater speakers" they have obviously not read the Absolute Sounds review of their ULTIMATE surround system, which is all Magnepan speakers.

Dali's are great speakers, but they do not have the soundstage and air-ness of Maggies. That is Maggies are known for. No cone speaker can match a planar for what you are looking for. Maggies, Innersound, Soundlab, or really top of the line, I hate to say it, Martin Logan's are what you are looking for.

Vandy's are really, really nice too.

Hello Wellfed,

For quite some time now I've wanted to add a high output, high efficiency speaker to my little line-up. I've heard most of the big names out there, and some of them are very good indeed. The GedLees outperform other high-efficiency systems I'm familiar with (up to about fifteen or twenty grand) in freedom from coloration, transparency (disappearing as the sound source), coherence, and width of soundstage. Their imaging is better than I've heard in a multiway high efficiency system, but I have heard single-driver high efficiency systems that image better (unfortunately single-driver systems can't handle complex passages with the ease that a good multi-way can). Tonal balance and timbre are excellent, and you can hear very very deep into the recording. The Summas excel on human voice, and are non-fatiguing to listen to for hours on end.

The GedLees have limitations in two areas: First, they are minus 6 dB at about 35 Hz, so they really don't do the very bottom octave - you'd need a sub for some applications. Second, many people don't like their appearance. The materials and design are all chosen for acoustic reasons, not aesthetic ones, and unfortunately for us it seems that aesthetics plays a fairly significant role for many people. Of course there are those looking for maximum sonic bang-for-the-buck and/or who like the form-follows-function lines of the GedLee, or who will hide the speakers behind a screen or by turning out the lights (as in a dedicated home theater room).

Efficiency is about 95-96 dB/1 watt ballpark, and nominal impedance is about 8 ohms (minimum 6.5 ohms as I recall). The drivers are high quality prosound drivers from B&C of Italy that would never be pushed anywhere near the limits of their linear range in a home application.

Earl may well offer the speaker with the crossover optimized for either a high damping factor or low damping factor amplification.

Hope this helps - feel free to call me if you'd like to shoot the breeze sometime.

Duke
(504) 866-1730

Thanks Duke, I'll be in touch.