Recommendation on soft dome bookshelfs under $1K

I live right up the street from Goldenear. My first speakers ever a pair of Lafayette Criterions had heil AMT tweeters. Would love to hear those these days off of a decent rig. Might have to give these a listen locally.

03-02-13: Mapman
I live right up the street from Goldenear. My first speakers ever a pair of Lafayette Criterions had heil AMT tweeters. Would love to hear those these days off of a decent rig. Might have to give these a listen locally.

As before, the caveat with auditioning GoldenEars is that because of their low price, many dealers pair them with mid-fi receivers, but they are of such high resolution they should be paired with good electronics. From reviews I've read, they really sing with tubes. And founder Sandy Gross powers his own pair of Triton 2's with a nice SET amp.

I was *really* taken by these Aon3's, however. Here's a stand-mounted speaker presenting a 9"x14" front that sounds for all the world like a mid-sized floor stander, complete with a 90dB sensitivity, linear, clean bass into the high 30's, and yet imaging and soundstaging more like the standmount that it is. I can't get the smoothness of the treble out of my mind.

I have a $2500 pair of 42"x9"x12" ported floorstanders in my living room, and the $998 Aon3's could easily sit in for them with no loss in dynamic range or bass extension, while improving on resolution and smoothness.

Johnny,

Gotta agree the Aon3 looks like a pretty refined big hitter at its price. Will be seeking out an audition of those sometime soon.

dc10audio Berlin mini II used!

I have heard the Golden Ear Tritons. Very smooth, detailed and they produced a really big soundstage. IMO, a steal at under $3K including powered woofers. These are not being sold by the kind of dealers that typically sell Def Tech nowadays. They sound nothing like Def Tech (a compliment in my book). I heard them run off of decent NAD electronics in a well designed room. I second Johnny's Golden Ear recommendation.