Speaker Ideas upto $2500

Referee time! Ok so lets clear up a couple things. I do not have the amp or the speakers chosen yet. I merely indicated an example of an integrated amp because that is what I intend to mate to the speakers regardless of speaker choice, to keep my amp budget in line. I started with the druids because of the 6moons review and the positive reviews on this site.

Have I listened to them in person, no. I was hoping to get a couple of points of reference to start my actual listening test with from this post.

Am I looking for a sub? Only if the speaker suggested clearly sound like its missing that last octave.

The point about room dimensions is good because that helps me know what rooms the speakers recommended will perform well in and vice versa. I haven't given the room dimensions because I will be moving in a couple of months so I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, but needless to say they will probably be in a small to medium room. Right now I am in a small loft, with hardwood floors and 20 ft ceilings. However, this will all change...

Another critical point is that I don't live near any places where I can easily audition. I have to drive quite a while to get to the nearest audiophile store.....so I am trying to plan this out as best as I can. Does this long winded post clarify anything?

FOR MY MONEY (emphasized so no one yells at me), the best bang for the buck speakers i've heard are paradigms, particularly the studio series. they're not particularly WAF-fy (wife acceptance factor), but they sound awesome in a lot of systems and rooms.

you might be very happy with a pair of studio 60s (around $1000 used, forget how much new) and it's very possible you could feel that you don't need a sub (i believe they go down to 29). i haven't heard a speaker that retails for less than 4k that i prefer to them, but, as always, you may dislike them intensely, who knows.

or you could always go mental and get a pair of studio 100s and a sub. or two subs. then your neighbors could enjoy your system with you.

as far as subs go, i'm a big fan of REL.

I think the Acoustic Zen Adagios are nice for the money. I also like the Harbeth Compact 7's. Good luck on your search.

Folks,

I apologize if my earlier posts caused any distress. I guess I over-reacted to a post by one of the contributors. I realize now that I probably should have posted my message in another section.

Hapaknack, good luck with your search. There are a lot of good people here with a lot of good advice.