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Looking for a Speaker Recommnedation

Looking to upgrade from my current Rogers LS3/5a + AB1 REL 328 setup .  While I love the smooth mids of these speakers (especially on voices/acoustic instruments), I tend to play harder music more frequently (alt/rock/punk/etc) which these do not excel at. I like to play music loud and have a real world living room my system is in (cathedral ceiling, open on one side, many windows. couch between my speakers) so setup is a challenge. I hate harsh sounding speakers.

My current playback system consists of a Oppo-BDP105 (or primarily Roon/JRiver via Ethernet) into a PS Audio DirectStream Jr DAC > Conrad Johnson Premier 14 Tube Pre > Conrad Johnson MF2500a Amp.  All run by a PS Audio P5 with a combination of Nordost/Shunyata cabling.

Looking to spend around $4,000-$7,000 but could be flexible. Used or new is fine.

Currently considering:

PSB Imagine T3
Vandersteen Trio CT
Spendor D7
Mangepan 3.7i (don't think this will work with high SPL)
Endeavor Audio E-3
Revel F208
Golden Ear Triton 1
Dynaudio Excite X44

Any other speakers I should be considering based on my equipment, volume preference and music? Anything I should eliminate?

Looking forward to hearing everyone's opinions & thank you in advance
fdemello
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,320 posts
 

Look at full range listing on Agon today for $4K-$5K. There are a couple of pairs of Dynaudios, Acoustic Zen and Reference 3A which are all more sophisticated than the GEs, as value-for-money as those latter are new.  And it would be hard to go wrong with the Focus at $5.5K.

The trade-off is 50% saving vs. likely not being able to audition before purchase.

fdemello OP
80 posts
 
The Focus 380 looks nice.  Have only researched the Excite series so far. Triton 1's are my next demo. Thanks mtrot
gdnrbob
4,460 posts
 
Re: depreciation. I would say resale of new items is roughly 50% original price, in general-Which is why I buy used. You are more likely to recoup the money spent buying used should you decide to sell.
Which is why, since you have no local dealer, it would be good to take advantage of Zu and Tekton's trial period.
With that said, I still encourage you to see if you can either come down to NJ to listen to the speakers to, or to find another Agon member who will let you listen to the Vandies or any other speaker you are considering. There are a lot of nice members here.
ctsooner's avatar
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
fdemello, email me at ctsooner@alumni.ou.edu.  Yes, I knew that store. 
fdemello OP
80 posts
 
twoleftears - agree looking used on some of these is the way to go. Starting to do that more

gdnrbob - thanks for the info. Good general rule. I am starting to lean toward new with trial period (Spatial/Magnepan/Zu) or used. New Triton 1's if I'm blown away and don't despise the looks. Or some of the Vandy's used.

I think the Tekton's & Legacy's are just too monolithic for my space so I'm starting to move away from them as options
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