Floorstanders for $3500

What type of amplifier would you be using? The Sonus Faber Venere 3.0 would be my first choice regardless of my current amp. Was very impressed with its balanced and neutral sound. The 3.0 was being driving by a modest Integra(125w/ch)home theater amp but I could here the potential in this speaker. You would be hard pressed to find a NEW speaker at $3495 that's a better all rounder and capable of surviving multiple amp/source upgrades. Another plus is having the SF pride of ownership that comes with solid resale value. I would stretch my budget another $500 and get the beautiful wood finish!

I think you will find that each of those speakers has its own character, and so it would be helpful to hear what your priorities are in a speaker. Want it to go down close to 20-30Hz? Then the Reference 3A might not work for you, despite its other great qualities. Want a forward or laid back sound? What type of music do you listen to? And what aspects of the music are most important to you?

And then there is the issue of your room. Matching speaker to room is also key. Again, using the Reference 3A as an example, the review of it I just glanced at suggested that it needs a bigish room. Other floorstanders may not. And then there are placement issues. An advantage of the Von Schweikert VR-33s is that they are designed to be placed close to a wall. Other speakers will need to be farther out in the room (especially rear-ported designs).

Provide some of these parameters and you will get recs of a speaker that may work best for you (though some will recommend a speaker they love, regardless of how well it matches what you are looking for). Most important if at all possible is to listen for yourself.

Oh, and you are very likely going to get much more speaker for your buck if you buy used.

Agree with Roscoe. Totally depends on what's important to you in terms of sound reproduction.

Driven by Manley tube KT90 monoblocks. Room is 18 X 20 X
8 ft ceiling. Priority is NATURAL TONALITY & TIMBRE. Live, unamplified acoustic instruments & voice are my standard. Jazz, classical, folk, world & rock, I enjoy it all.

Manley Retro 100 monoblocks. 100 watts/channel with KT90 power tubes.