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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
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.
cavscout19d's avatar
cavscout19d
31 posts
 
I read one of your responses and felt I needed to respond when I saw Pantera and Priest among your preferences, as they are two of my all time favorites. I have a stupid collection of speakers and gear which has gotten a bit out of hand.... and I listen to everything from Metal to Classical, jazz, funk and whatever else I can sink my teeth into-often all in the same day as my rig is my office. 
For the lsat year My go to speakers have been b&w cdm 9's for good music but I never beat on them- I crank tunes with JBL L100t3s and some old 4311's- Speaking of the mighty Priest, I cooked the tweeters in some giant Klipsch KLF30s which absolutely rocked (albeit with a bit of "horn tweeter fatigue) while wailing heading out to the highway- 
recently I scored an entire Revell set up of original Gems and M20's?? Not sure- either way, I've got to say that the Revel Gems have been running daily for about 2 months and playing everything I can spin on Tidal- They really do sound good. last night began with Yo Yo Ma and ended with Ice T's Body Count covering Slayer. The revels are solid, very good sounding speakers but as a rock roll man, I'm always looking for more bottom end so I'm considering a JL sub to replace my older Paradignm 10". I think the Revel stuff will take the abuse better than the B&Ws. and the revels have been noted in many hifi pubs for their ability to handle a lot but I also think a sweet set up would be maybe some used 805 2 ways but a sub would be mandatory - Ideally I'm working  towards Having 2 killer systems- one for real listing, and one for really kicking ass.
i certainly have enough gear- just not enough time to make it happen

gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
Wow. When shadorne becomes inflamed about you pushing brands, you know you have violated all objectivity.

Dave

Hi Dave. I'm certain you already know I truly enjoy your witticism. What you may not know is that I do at times follow the advice of others on the forum. And while I certainly could have engaged shadorne in some spirited back-and-forth, in this case, I'll simply "play in another sandbox". 
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