"Best" speakers new/used under $3,000?

"Hyperion HPS-938".

I read the reviews, which are stellar, but after calling the company in CA and speaking with a nice fellow who spoke limited English, I am not bowled over with their operation. He indicated they have no HPS-938 in stock and they don't build them very often because they are expensive. He said he does have a B-stock set available. But he really wanted me to buy a set of their new HPS-738, which is a scaled down version of the HPS-968. However, I could not get much of a feel for the differences. Also, it appears the nearest dealer where I could actually listen to them is about 260 miles away.

Consider Selah Audio Tempestas. RAAL ribbon tweeter, Accuton ceramic mid, Scanspeak Illuminator woofer in an excellent cabinet. I think you need to go above $10k retail to match them. Tempestas are $3000 in standard cabinets. I own Merlin TSM-MMEs, which I like, but the Tempestas are better in every way, and not by a small amount.

Usher Be-718 or Usher Mini Dancer 1

If you can find a good pair of B&W Matrix 800 (assuming you really do mean this speaker: http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/691bw800/index.html ) - JUMP on it!!! Nothing else mentioned will come even close to that experience.

If anyone disagrees and has a pair to sell at that price? Let me know and I will purchase them immediately.

Ditto Capt369. Merlin VSM's