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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
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
@gdhal, the Focal Utopia family has lots of models. An A'gon member suggested a pair of Utopia Alto Be's that are on A'gon with an asking price within the OP's budget.

@cycles2

I found/find the Focal website to be a bit "quirky" (i.e. difficult to readily find information, among other things). In particular, there didn't seem to be any pricing at all. Regardless, I'll stand by my assertion which is that dollar-for-dollar the Golden Ear Triton Tower lineup will best the Focal line. Even if I'm mistaken, the point of my post is that at a minimum, the OP should consider GE and make his/her own decision.

Liked the Sonus Faber the best but since I'm a bass hound ended up with a pair of PMC's which I'm pretty happy with.

@norton

Should the opportunity present itself, you may be interested to listen to the Triton Reference. Many of the speakers mentioned in this would require a separate quality sub (and likely two) to even come close to the bass/bottom of the T Refs. Despite what many believe, there is *plenty* of "sound" going on beneath 40Hz.
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@gdhal   

If you were not so intent on pushing Triton you might have read this thread. Cycles2 is correct  - there is an earlier post with a link to a pair of used Focal Utopia that is within the OP's budget.
prof
3,471 posts
 
sbs38,

I'm curious: has the Merlin sound changed over the years?

I had experience with the older VSMs that everyone used to rave about.
For me they utterly epitomized "hi-fi" that was detailed and quick, but dry and utterly without soul or tonal color.  Amazing for their size, but completely uninvolving.  (To my ears).

And...Bobby Plakovic passed away a few years ago, right?  Are Merlins still being made?
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Wow. When shadorne becomes inflamed about you pushing brands, you know you have violated all objectivity.

Dave
inna
7,296 posts
 
I can't be 100% sure but I think Kevin of VAC has Focal Grand Utopia for his work and personal use. This is a strong endorsement.
Yes, of course I was thinking close to the OP's upper price limit. I was in fact a little surprised that you could get such a high level of performance for reasonable money. Would I get them myself if I wanted to upgrade and could afford them? I would strongly consider them, but I would also have to get tube electronics including phono, so it would in fact be an almost complete system rebuilding except for the table/arm and couple of cables.
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