Help with speaker choice

how about Zu Essence? should be fine with that power level and they are supposed to sound good given how often they show up in demo stands at shows. Leaves $1500 left over for cables/DAC/whatever?

Check out the Salk line of speakers. I think the HT2 or the HT2-TL might be a good choice. You can check them out at

http://www.salksound.com/speakers_veracity_ht2.shtml

I own a pair of HT3 and loved them however with $5K to spend there are some amazing speakers out there both used and new. The people here on Audiogon will offer you some of the best advice you can find.

Good luck.

Thank you all very much for your advice and suggestions.
I'm going to travel to LA next Saturday to audition the VMPS so I should have a better idea how they stack up against the more conventional design. Also, I actually did hear the Gibbon 9 from DeVore Fidelity a few years ago when I lived in NYC. I wasn't looking for speakers at that time so I didn't really concentrate well enough to fully appreciate the speaker, but I remember it to be very transparent, detailed and "clean." However, I also found it to be a little lean and given it $6500 price, I think the speakers in my original list, especially the Vandersteen, might be more of what I'm looking for.

I too find the Hyperion look to be rather unattractive. Their reviews are superb, however, and they are selling "B stock" of the speaker at 50% discount on their website. I emailed Hyperion asking what "B stock" meant in reference to this particular speaker, and whether there were Hyperion dealers in California, but the response I received was quite disappointing. The manager completely ignored my inquiry about B stock and simply apologized for not having dealers in California where they are based, which I must say I find very strange. I asked again and my email has been ignored. At this price point, it is simply unacceptable and extremely unprofessional, and I won't be buying Hyperion speakers any time soon if that's the level of customer service I can expect.

I wish there was someone on the forum who owns the Sonatina as I absolutely love the look of this speaker and if it sounds as good as it looks, it might be the winner.

The search continues...

Actusreus...just a quick response on your comment about the Devore Gibbon 9s. I have heard them at my dealer a bunch of times and "lean" is not an adjective I would use to describe their sonic attributes. I actually found them to be a bit warm with good authoritative bass, very clean mids and smooth highs. I have a pair of Thiel 2.4s and some people describe my speakers as lean (I do not think they are when set up properly and with the right amplification). Anyway, I urge you to seek out a pair to audition to make sure you don't rule them out. And if I remember correctly something like 2-3 reviewers ended up buying the speakers (out of 6 maybe), which speaks quite highly of these speakers. Here is a link to a pair that just came up for sale on Agon (i have no affiliation with buyer): http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1271213129&/Devore-Nine-

Anyway, good luck and happy hunting.