Recommendation for a modern Duntech Sovereign 2001 replacement

Thanks all for the (continued) suggestions!

Silhouettes like the KEF Blade, SF Olympia would suit us best.
Guess I should have mentioned earlier that aesthetics is this time important. We may end up in an apartment in Manhattan.

Also, I am thinking of going back to solid state and simple setup (something like the Devialet pizzabox I have mentioned in my threads). I have a NAD amp as backup if that experiment fails.

@williewonka  " They will handle large orchestral, rock and sound really smooth when playing Diana Krall "
Exactly what I am looking for! But the aesthetics of Ceviot or GRF may be too old fashioned for my better half. Cantebury is out because of that.

@audiotroy
My Sovereign 2001s are reserved but not sold yet as the buyer is looking for ways to get it shipped to Canada and I have the Duntech Black Knights to console me until a new breed is introduced to the herd.
The Dali Epicon 8 looks good specs wise.

@erik_squires 
Which Revel would you recommend?  I have no experience with MA.

@roberjerman
Thanks for your tip on Carver.

I think the Revel's depend on your space. I love the MA silver and gold lines. The Gold in particular are technically among the most advanced and accurate speakers available. Whether you like them... is another story. :) I'm just super impressed by them. 

Hi joth, that is an interesting situation.

We likely have similar tastes since I too owned Vandys, Thiels, and Duntechs.  In fact I kept my Princeses 19 years, longer than any other component I've owned.  Obviously I appreciate the 1st order crossovers as well. 

Since downsizing from them I've tried a couple other systems but replacing the Duntechs is not easy.  I ended up with the Janszen zA2.1 hybrid electrostatic, now called the Valentina.  It is available in either passive (which I have) or active versions.  They offer similar overall coherency with increased resolution and HF extension.  The bass does not have the extension of the Princess so it certainly wouldn't match your Sovereigns, but it is surprising for their size.  The powered version is said to have better bass extension but I've not auditioned them.  I believe they have higher WAF than the Duntechs.

Another obvious consideration would be a current Vandersteen model, from the Quatro to the 7, depending on your preference and budget.

Anyway, good luck with your choice.

PS - I'm a big jazz fan too.  

Pryso, we dalied with Jantzen for a while, we had the ZA 2.1 and they were great, however, they miss the scale of a much larger speaker, they were superb in terms of coherence, they were also a tad polite in the upper treble, they would not be my first choice for a big room, they are awesome speakers and are quite magical in many ways and we agree they look smashing if you like their retro 50's kind of styling. 

A Vandy Quattro is also way too small sounding, a Vandy 5 would be much closer, but still the added height of the Duntech means that you should look for a similarly large footprint speaker, taller in size.

if you are looking for a stunning looking speaker the KEF Blades look amazing and are way more transparent then the Duntechs, They also throw a huge soundstage, they also have way deeper and tighter bass.

A well setup pair of blades are awesome, we ran a set of Blades at the 2012 and 2013 New York Audio show and compared our setup vs a $107K pair of YG Sonja, and the KEF Blades were easilly just as good. 

The Legay Aeris are quite amazing, and will beat the Duntech's in every way, and as an added bonus come with a room correction processor, preamp and dac, so if the rest of your gear is older you would be gaining in essence a new preamp and dac all you would need to do would be to add your amplifier. 

One major advantage of the Aeris is the room correction feature which can work wonders if you are moving to a NYC apartment and have a less then ideal room. 

As mentioned before we are  probably  1-2 hours away from you and we have a number of speakers that would work including the Kef Blade, the Legacy Aeris and the Blade on active display. 

Contact ABF Freight they do most of our shipping and they are excellent.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

We can also mention we were a Devialet dealer, and the form factor was amazing, the sound was a bit too mechanical for our tastes.

Today there are a number of uber integrated ampifiers that beat most high end separates, we highly recommend the T+A HV 3100 and there are a few other uber integrated amplifiers. 

The HV 3100 is a 300 watt integrated amp, based on $36,000.00 worth of separate components in one elegant box, for $23k they currently have a junior version for $18k which is very similar but not quite as good. 

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/ta-elektroakustik-3100-hv-pdp-3000-hv-sacdcd-...

Here they compare the T+A to a $45k D'agastino integrated  and find the T+A to be its equil 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ