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what speakers to buy

so this is my 1st time posting. the question is what speakers. i am going into this blind trying to put together a decent system on a budget. i live in a city where bose is considered the high end of high end and the nearest audiophile shops are hours away.
over the years i have owned a lot of vintage gear and still collect some of it. solid state and tube. some of the tube gear was marantz, macintosh, dynaco, heathkit, radio craftsmen, pilot etc. also the usual solid state marantz, pioneer, kenwood, adcom. speakers jbl, polk, altec (model 19 and vott), paradigm, klipsch, bozak, sansui, AR, advent. all the usual suspects
so far i have purchased a copland tube pre cta-305 and a pair of rogue audio m180 amps. all mint condition all under a year old for under half price of new. i also have a denon DP-60L TT 
(with sumiko pearl cartridge)
speaker budget is around 5000 give or take a 1000. if i'm patient i think i can find something that was originally in the 12-20k price range for what i want to spend.
so far i am leaning towards ew andra ii, dali euphonia 800, canton reference 3.2, revel studio ii. size is also a factor and all of these are within that limit.
i have a fairly large area open concept living /dinning and breakfast nook with high ceilings.
and i know "dont buy without listening" but not an option
so looking for some opinions/options

after speakers i will be getting tuner, cd and music server, current interconnects and speaker wire are all ZU mission


dragonbutx
bassdude
462 posts
 
If you want something that rivals the Focal Sopras, Gamut’s, Magico’s, or Tannoy’s (i.e. detail resolution, dynamics, clarity, soundstage, imaging, etc.) few of the speakers noted above offer that, if any.

However, some, within your price range, that do are:

Wavetouch Audio Grand Teton’s / Antero’s (my choice)
Linkwitz Labs Orion’s / LX521’s (521’s are a Madisound kit) (my choice)
(sometimes you can find the Orion’s on Audiogon)
AudioKinesis Jazz Modules / Dream Maker

And... if you want a known brand name:

Emerald Physics OB’s
Nola Brio Trio (2.1 or 2.2) (my choice)

Nothing, but the best speakers available, matches the performance of any of these.



bondmanp
1,790 posts
 

Buying used limits your losses if you don't like what you bought without auditioning first.  Also, some manufacturers sell direct with generous return options, in which you usually lose the round-trip shipping charges.  Just be aware of any restocking fees.  Some brands/mail order retailers to consider that offer good return policies include:

Audio Advisor

Music Direct

Salk Sound

Ohm Acoustics

B&H Photo (KEF dealers)

Decware

...and many others I cannot think of right now.



wolf_garcia
6,631 posts
 
I recently bought a pair of highly regarded speakers that simply don't sound like what I seemingly need to hear, and will not be buying speakers again without personally auditioning them using my own earballs. I realize you simply never know when aural synergy in your gear pile is gonna happen, so the advice of the advocates of a good return policy is well taken (assuming the break-in period is less than the return period)…my current speakers (bought years ago after being impressed by friends pair) surprisingly match well with my recently adopted lower powered SE amp scenario, and I was only trying the new ones to add a degree of efficiency...they paled in comparison to what I already had so OOPS. 
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 
Personally, I hew to the likes of ProAc, Vienna Acoustics, Spendor, Silverline, and similar.  Having a better sense of your priorities, you should look at Vanderstein Treo CTs.  John Ruttan, Audio Connection, is an expert on both ProAcs and Vandersteins and gives very good advice.
dragonbutx OP
12 posts
 
thanks again for all the input. still doing a lot of looking and reading (i know still not a substitute for listening) and checking out some of the other brands mentioned.
also think i will take a day trip to chicago in the next couple of weeks to really get an idea of what some of these brands sound like that way i can be more comfortable with whats out there.
at this point i think i may up the speaker budget a little.
short list right now is: 
focal 1038be  or sopra
dali euphonia 800 or epicon 8
revel ultima studio 2

also considering sonus faber amati homage

in my 1st post i mentioned EW andra II any thoughts on those

to all the maggie lovers i have heard some of older models and some others of that type and while i do think they sound good they are not for me on a daily basis. also ZU was mentioned and i seriously considered them for a minute but in the past i have never been happy with high efficiency speakers with more than say 50 watts.

i see all the brands and models everyone mentions and that is where the head starts to explode. so much to consider and there will never be enough time to see or hear it all. i did buy the preamp and amps by reputation and reviews and am extremely happy so far.

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