Best used floorstanding / full range around $1000

Shadorne hit is on the head - Energy Veritas is the speaker and not the version being sold today, 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4, but the prior version, which as stated the 2.8's come from. The 2.8's were a Stereophile class "A" rated speaker from about 1993 to 1999 when they halted production. At $6,000 per pair and just GoodGuys selling them - it is no wonder why they stopped making them. Not a gloss finish cover put on like the current line of Veritas speakers, these were all PAINTED in gloss black!

Clearly expensive, but the speakers are VERY good. It is THE speaker I use and I have owned all but the top Wilson Alexandria's, I have owned Meridian DSP-8000's, I own JBL K2S9800SE's, BB&W Signature 800 and everything below, Revel (all), PMC (BB-5 and MC-1), Snell, Duntech, Dunlavy, etc. Veritas 2.8's are that good - they just are.

Now, they sell for $2,100 to $2,700 but their little brother, the 1.8's always sell for less than $1,000.
3" mid, 1" tweeter, a pair of 6.5 bass drivers, 3 ports and YOU DO NOT need a sub. I run 18" subs (from 4-8 in a room) but seriously, with the 1.8's and 2.8's subs for music are not necessary.

Only MAXX2's and Meridian DSP-8000's I could say this about - but I am a bass-head.

MAXX2's for about $40K, amplification for them at about $15K, or the Meridian DSP-8000's at $55K plus their electronics??? OR

Here is a phenomenal set up:
Veritas 1.8's - $900
Proceed AMP2 - $650
Proceed AVP (surround processor/preamp) - $650.
CD - most DVD players like an Oppo - $200.

$2,400 and done. YOU WILL BE SHOCKED how good this system is. When the day comes to make a complete surround system, add the Proceed AMP3 ($900), a Veritas 2.0C center ($350) and Veritas 2.0R surrounds ($400) and you are done.
You could thrown in a Velodyne HGS-12 for $600 and at a total system cost of about $4,600 you would have a system in which it would take substantially more to improve - BIG dollars, big room eq and treatments, and someone to work it all for you.

Veritas 1.8's or 2.8's - best speakers in their prospective used price points - without question according to PORSCHECAB!

Dan

Veritas 1.8's, sub $1,000, a Proceed AMP, BPA or HPA2 and

In all honesty, and I humbly state that I have owned speakers up to the $ 16,000 Verity Audio Parsifal Encore (my review is here on the 'Gon about those), there are three speakers that stood out in my experiences over the years in this price range.

In third place, the QUAD 22L or 21L floor standing speakers, very nice for the money.

In second place, the Opera Mezza monitors that you could probably find for a grand. Small monitors with a big, full sound.

In first place, an INCREDIBLY good speaker : The Polk Audio LS 15. You will find many comments and excellent reviews on them, most of them glowing. It has the same radiator tweeter as on some mega-buck speakers. Really, they are an absolute steal for the money, and compare favorably with speakers up to $ 3K maybe more. Don't snob the Polk logo on them. They are serious, well made, good-sounding and good-looking speakers.

Small boutique snob-shops won't dare carry them, as it would make selling a twice-the-price Totem speaker (or the like) quite a challenge. This is one speaker where the money is spent on sound, not the name. I once owned them and regret selling them to this day.

Good luck !

Thanks for all the responses. Keep them coming! I will look into the models mentioned. I actually enjoy the Monitor Audio GR10's; I found them to have deeper soundstage and superior imaging to a pair of Monitor Audio S10's, which I also have. However, I was unsure whether to write that off as monitors vs floorstanders, or just the Gold line at work over the Silvers.

To Dan, who recommended the Proceed AMP2, have you tried the newer Proceed amps, namely the BPA/HPA2? I had the opportunity to pick up AMP2/3's for a nice price on Ebay, but decided to let them go due to reviews saying the later models were 'better'. Right now, I have a multichannel Rotel 1075 and Odyssey Monoblocks. Despite the glowing reviews and appreciation for the Odyssey amps here and everywhere else, I actually prefer the Rotels. Go figure. I find the Odysseys to be 'bright', accentuating higher end frequencies, compressed lows, although a bit wider soundstage compared to Rotels. I also found unacceptable hiss and hum cable interference over the Odysseys, which can be reduced by organizing the cables a bit, but I never had that problem with the Rotel. I'm still a learning newbie though, so take my observations with a grain of salt.

Back to speakers, my main concern is being able to find a floorstanding model of equal or better quality than the GR10's for around $1000 used. Then, it would eliminate having to invest in stands. I would hope not to have to sacrifice imaging.

One more thing. Is the Energy Veritas 2.8/1.8 significantly different from the newer Veritas lines? I can't seem to find any info on the older models.

I did a lot of research on Energy speakers old and new and listened to the current top of the line Veritas (2.4i) at a dealer in a very good room and carefully set up connected to all Ayre gear. No go.... Not too impressive at all. I have not heard the 2.8's but they were strongly recommended to me by another Agoner just as they are being recommended to you, and over the current line.