$40.000 speaker advise. Check out my list

All,

Thanks a lot for your thoughts. Also a lot of, to me, unknown speaker brands have come across. Unfortunally I will not be able to listen to them all.

What I do see is that from the people that listened to them the Rockport Antares and Verity Sarastro are both excellent products. The only thing I heard was that the Verity performs better with Jazz/classic music than with any other type and the Rockport is a bit more versatile.

With my current Revel Studio's I believe I lack a bit of bass, therefore most likely (when I read the posts) the Avalon's probably suits my listening room less than the Sonos Faber Stradivari.

This means I will focus more on and try to listen too the Verity, Rockport and Sonus Faber in order to decide. I might even try to purchase a used pair although I don't often see them being listed.

I have no experience with Quad, but a lot of people seem to like the new reference Quad. How does the Quad paired with a reference sub woofer (eg Revel Sub 30) will stadn up against the Verity/Rockport/SF?

Again appreciate everyones help.

Max

For the price that you are going to spend I think it will come down to synergy with your room,equipment and personal taste.

The music that you listen to will also come into play.

My speakers are similar to Wilsons at a fraction of the cost. I will peobab;y never want another set.

I would narrow it down to 2- sets and have them auditioned in your set up before you buy.

You might find a dealer that will work with you in your area also.
Then there might be the case that you will need some room acoustic tuning to get the most from the speakers you choose.

I would not get a speaker system that is easy to drive,efficient ,having your setup.

Hope you find what you are looking for and once you have it don't mess with it as t second guess and play the audio merry-go-round like many do and mess up a good thing.I have done that before and regret it.

Have a good life!

Max,

For the Mark Levinson combo, my first choice is Revel Ultima2 Salon with Revel's subwoofer/s.
You should also try TAD Reference One, Isophon Arraba, B&W 800D & Sonus Faber Elipsa, at half of your budget.

Quads shouldnt be that hard to audition somewhere relatively close.

They would at least give you a sense if you like 'stats.

Honestly If I were in your position, (especially since you have good speakers already) I'd really take my time, listen to everything I could, even if it took 6 or 8 months. Go to the next CES or THE show. Unless you are in a financial position to get a 40K speaker then a year from now hear something else and then just dump them, that's another story. I really like the idea of finding a speaker whoose sound really gels with me, then tailoring the system to that, even it if means swapping out other components or cables.

Since you are starting at a pretty high level of reproduction to begin with, I think you want to make sure you end up with some significantly better, not just "different."

I haven't heard them all, but I think the Strads need a very large room to do their thing. I'd personally do what Emailists recommends, find the speaker that you like best, then re-jig the system to work with them.

From your list, I haven't heard many, but I'm a Verity guy - I'd get the Sarastros (talk to Matt at pitchperfect, he has one there) and consider a Shindo or Nagra rig with them. But that's just me.