Opinions wanted: 10-30K Speakers for Jazz/Folk

One angle you might consider is whether you need thundering bass, level down to 16Hz.  There is no signal down there in jazz and folk.

If you forego that, on your budget you will now be able to afford real state of the art speakers, because of the money saved on not needing the last 10Hz.

On that programme I would go planar for holographic accuracy and real presence.  But there are loads and loads of other ways to go.

Cube nenuphar speakers

57 quads

@nhb1, since you're near Boston, I highly recommend Goodwin's in Waltham. They have a huge selection and several listening rooms with several different ranges of equipment and very knowledgeable and friendly salespeople. Not pushy in the slightest. They'll sit you down on a couch, give you a tablet for streaming and leave you alone for as long as you want.

I personally have a pair of Magico Mini IIs (stand-mounts) paired with a JL Audio sub and I'm very happy with the sound. Magico makes some great speakers in your price range. I have a narrow listening room, about 13 x 25, and prefer the flexibility of a separate sub with its own room correction. Bass is the hardest to get right in a room. A self-powered sub with automatic room correction will save you a ton of headaches trying to dial in the bass. And you can basically put it anywhere.

Enjoy the shopping and listening phase of your journey. It's one of the best stages of audio purchasing, and you probably won't find yourself in the market that often. So make the most of it. 

MAGICO,ROCKPORT or VIMBERG jump on a pair ASAP!!