Best speaker choice under $1000?

I will second the De Capos. Detailed, revealing, sweet sound stage.

you could drop $500 on some kef 104.2..and keep $500
fantastic speaker

Yoh Grin, Yes over his New purchase budget--but I've seen them go for

$1k preowned.

Great speaker

Des

Sufentanil,

Your recommendations do make much more sense if you thought R&B and not rap. As far as PSB goes, thats just my own personal opinion and others may feel different. To be honest, I think most, if not all, of API's Products have that "boring" trait to them.

"The Vandersteens are a good choice, although the ones I've heard weren't exactly what I would call transparent and detailed.".

That statement doesn't surprise me. A lot of people have opinions similar to yours. Its due to a combination of factors. The biggest factor is setup. Most people don't set them up properly. Vandersteen gives very detailed info on room placement and back tilt. Its not optional, you have to do what the manual says in order to get best results. For example, you mention lack of detail. Set up properly, the Model 1's are the most detailed speaker out of all the speakers mentioned so far on this thread. Its not even close. But you will only get that kind of sound if you spend some time with them.

Based off pure sound quality I would go Magnepan. If you want to rock out and jam, maybe Klipsch. ML's are good but you have to buy replacement panels after a few years, and after the sellout they are expensive!!

I bet you would love a $800 used pair of Magnepan 1.6's and get a nice little sub to enhance the weak bass.