~$15K floorstanders: opinions sought

The KEF Reference 5 speakers are on sale in certain finishes.  Great speakers and very good looking.  

wassaicwill,
I am surprised no one mentioned that it is, IMO, foolish not to buy a used speaker. Especially at this time when large floorstanders are frequently going for 1/3 retail or less! Other than maybe living with a few small cosmetic flaws, there is no reason not to buy a good contemporary used speaker. And a well broken in speaker is an advantage. Speakers can take hundreds of hours to break in.
And you are in a perfect position to get a world class speaker at a bargain price.
Some would say go for a Wilson Sasha. There are many now for sale. I wonder why? My 1st choice is a Rockport Avior. The Rockports are the finest, most natural dynamic speaker I have heard. And with big Krells, you can rock the house!
Especially since you currently have Focal, there is 1 pair of the big Utopias from TRM Audio on Audiogon. Talk about big scale, easy drive and great sound! And very hard to find used. They are listed at about $10k. Then my next choice would be Vandersteen 5A Carbon. You don’t see these used very often. There is one pair on Audiogon. Overall, my pick would be the Rockports. I don’t think you can find anything but a rave reviews.

Dynaudio Contour 60 or the forthcoming next generation Contour 60i at $11,000 (I have a set on order).  With that next gen model on the way there are a number of Dynaudio dealers selling their floor models of the Contour 60 at a bargain price.  Smooth sounding speakers with a particular naturalness on vocals.  It's a soft dome design so not as piercing as some of the BE or AMT tweeters.  Of course, it's only my opinion those tweeters are piercing. Excellent dynamic range with solid impact on bass.  Pictures don't do justice to the gray oak, gloss finish that is just one of several finish options.  It's stunning in person.  Not a lot of Dynaudio speakers for sale on Audiogon or US Audiomart.  Many are sold new, so that says a lot about people wanting to keep them, and for good reason.  Best to you.  I hope that you end up with a wonderful sounding speaker that lasts a very long time for you.  If you have the opportunity to audition a set of Dynaudio Contour series speakers I believe you will find them to sound as I described and, I believe, fits what you had asked for.  Also, they work very well with, and even prefer, high powered SS amps.

Hi mglik, thank you! I absolutely am considering used. I hadn't considered Rockport, thank you! 

Buy used