Candidates for best speakers in the $2000-5000 market

So many good speakers, so little money, room, or time to own them all. I’ll vote for what I own: Vandersteen 2CE Signature IIIs, a true classic and great buy. Your spousal unit may not like the looks with the black sock, and if I replace mine I will likely get the Vandersteen Treo CT, which are gorgeous and pass the WAF (wife acceptance factor). The Treo CT is also listed by AbSound as a bargain and classic. (Of course, if I had a bottomless wallet I would ownw other brands too, in my imaginary 2nd/3rd systems!)

AbSound / 50 Greatest Bargains in High-End Audio

Reading some love here for 3-5 year old second hand, for example, as a category?

Correct!

Another +1 for Vandersteen 2Ce Sig III.

Wonderful speaker, does everything pretty well, does nothing wrong.

The Falcon Acoustics Studio 30’s might just be the biggest bargain on the market right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryqr06Eyml0&t=190s

 The all new Falcon Acoustics M50's will be coming out Soon too ! High-End will never be the same again ! 🤩

I few years ago I was in the same price range. But I was committed to staying <$4k. i also committed to buying new from my LD because I wanted to in home demo. I settled on Focal 926 and SF Sonetto III. Both in my room at the same time. SF handled voice and strings better but I ultimately chose the 926 for their ability to bloom music throughout the room and had a nice sweet spot at lower listening levels and abilities with a wider range of music. Plus , as I have stated before here, I just could not get over the SF cheezy plastic base and the way it mounted. A year or so later I picked up a pristine pair of QUAD S-5 off Craigslist for super cheap. I was blown away with that products ability to image. I ultimately kept the 926 and sold the S-5. But months later I realized I really missed the S-5 imaging and the beautiful classic styling. I found my listening taste had changed by the speaker itself. I now dont really place a priority on how hard rock music sounds. I emailed the buyer back and told him I would buy them back and he basically said "HAHA Sorry!". I keep and eye on the used market all the time for those Quads. Pair over on USAudio mart now but they are near new. Proly wait until I can get a better deal. I also have the Dynaudio evoke 10 on my HT setup, I like them. I heard some of their higher end product paired up with Octave amps at RMAF years ago, very impressive. One of their full range products would be a possibility someday. Lover their build quality too.

QUAD S-5 review: