Which allround speaker ?

These are all great suggestions, but as I said before, most of them are not available in Belgium. Vienna Accoustics might be something to try, although I suspect the Mahler will be too big for my room. The Strauss might be better, but is no longer available and it is said that the Beethoven Concert Grand is no good for people who like bite and punch... But I'll give it a try anyway.

What do you people think of Sonus Faber Cremona in this respect?

I've got the Beethoven Baby Grands and they have realistic midrange and treble energy; however, if you like more than that, then I agree that Sonus Faber is the place to look. For me they have too much "edge" but one person's edge is another's bite and punch. Listen to both if you can. They're both very fine brands.

They both need a good SS amp with a high damping factor.

Dave

You could always buy a copy of the well respected UK magazine 'hi-fi choice', see what they have reviewed and recommend then check out the BADA dealers in the UK at the back of the magazine, then jump on cheap flight to London and demo them. You would also get them for 17.5% less than a UK purchaser so maybe cheaper, although you would have to have them shipped back to Belgium. Chips and Mayo lovely!. The land of many bicycles!

Well, I went back to the dealer yesterday and listened some more. To make a long story short: I will try the Thiels CS2.4 at home, with an McIntosh 6900 amp. I'll give it a go for a week and will see soon enough whether it works for me. If not, then I'll try Sonus Faber Cremona, Vienna Acoustics Beethoven, WLM Diva and Dali Helicon 800 MkII. The winner has to be among them... ;-)

Dude!!!! For that kind of money you are getting into some serious electrostatic territory. Have you tried electrostatics/planars? Here are some examples in your price range (prices in dollars):

Sound Labs Millenium 3 - maybe 7 - 12k? Note that they may not make this anymore. They've eliminated several of their 'lower' models.

Sound Labs Millenium 2 - maybe 10 - 12k? I'm sure they make this one.

Note that I'm pretty sure both of those have treble attenuation, so you can chage the highs to your delight!

There are many that say that Sound Labs are the finest speakers in the world at any price.

Magnepan 20.1 - 11/12k?

Again, this is a speaker that many will claim gets as good as is available these days. If you look through lists of 'best speakers ever' this is basically always on the list.

Quads - I have a slight preference for Magnepan 20.1 over Quads, but these are the most famous of the planars and of great historical importance.

There are also the Roger Sanders systems, this one is 12k

http://www.sanderssoundsystems.com/10a.htm

He has a very small sweet spot, but these are amazing inside it.

If this is all overload, just try the Magnepan 20.1s - those will be the easiest to hear in any major city. With Pass Amps (that is what I have with a maggie one level lower than 20.1) you will be in heaven. The Magnepan 20.1s also have tweeter attenuation, not quite as fluid as the Sound Labs (for Maggies you add a resistor to the system) but you seem comfortable with a system that is light on the highs all around - with the Sound Labs you could change it whenever/as often as you wanted to.

And note that the Sound Labs attenuation is NOT a graphic eq - it has to do with the way the speaker is fundamentally built, so it does not degrade sound. You can read about it at their site or on planar fansites, there is much info on SoundLabs on the net.

If you can't hear them, just assume the Sound Labs are a bit better than Maggie 20.1s - although some might argue differently.

Before buying box speakers you *must* at least listen to the Maggie 20.1s. And if you've heard 1.6s that will give an idea, but is not the same. 20.1s add true ribbon tweeter and a push-pull design - very different.