First round of auditions disappointing

Amandarae -- you built the Orion xover yourself?
Wow. You're patient and resilient:)

Seadweller,

I 2nd Boa2's recommendation of Green Mountain Audio speakers & I do this from my personal experience.

Like Boa2 said - their form takes on the conventional box speaker look BUT they DO NOT sound like box speakers at all.
They have superb all-round qualities: Excellent imaging and soundstaging, wide response, excellent midrange, excellent highs, NO excessive midbass warmth, NO slow presentation that lacks pace and transient attack, NO loose bass, excellent total dynamics and punch.
Given that they are 1st order x-over speakers they do compress earlier than, say, 4th order x-over speakers. However, the SPL level at which they compress is reasonably high. For example, in the 3-way speakers I have the woofer compresses at 105dB SPL. I've never found it to be an issue in the 3+ years I've owned the speaker. I usually listen to music on average at 85dB SPL 10' away.

Several of Green Mountain Audio's models would fit your budget - the stand-mount Callisto, the Pico Medeo & a used C3 (flagship speaker). Also, Roy Johnson, the owner/designer is a fantastic person to deal with.

Disclaimer: I have NO (zero) financial or economic affiliation with Green Mountain Audio. I'm just a satisfied customer.

I have had the gma callisto's for almost a year. I second everything that bombaywalla has written. in addition, the bottom end is very well defined and clean. obviously you don't get the big dynamic oomph, but - and this is important to note - you get the bass that is in the recording, and it is incredibly well integrated with the mids and highs. if you do a high proportion of your listening to jazz, folk, vocals of any sort, then you will be astonished. to do justice to rock, you need a different speaker, or add a sub. this is not to say that it is subpar, merely, that it's limitations become apparent with rock. i feel no need to upgrade.......at this point. finally, the people at gma are a pleasure to deal with.

oh yeah--- i have no other connection with gma other than being a happy owner

Seadweller, I live in your area and noticed you have interest in auditioning the Gallo's. Are you familiar with St. Cecilia's Sound Gallery in the Clearwater area on Hwy.19? I've found Brian, the owner, to be a great guy and he's got a pretty good product lineup (including the Gallos's you mentioned.) I listened to them myself during my search for replacements of my Maggie 1.6's. What really floated my boat, but was out of my budget, were the Nolla Reference Vipers. He's just received a new Nola Viper model priced @ 5.5k that sounds like it's worth a listen.

Thanks.......I just came upon them accidently, while searching the net for dealers in the area......Never heard of them, but I'm going to swing by on Saturday.....