Acoustic Zen Crescendo Mk2 or Daedalus Ulysses v2

Mtrot, The DA-RMas are no longer made, the Athena is pretty much the same model, made as a floor stander instead of a large monitor.

When I auditioned at RMAF in 2009, I checked it against the Ullyses, with the same amps and rerally could'nt detect much difference, both excellent.

Acoustic Zen-heard both at RMAF.
Plenty of bass for my tastes and refinement to boot

If you have any specific questions about AZ I can try to answer them. For myself, these were the speakers I heard and immediately knew that I wanted. None of the other speakers I'd heard jumped out to me the same way. Regardless of price.

Like you, I wanted something that could run double duty for music and home theater and that narrows the choices because a lot of nice speakers have low sensitivity coupled with a maximum power handling that equals SPL less than reference level movie playback. (Or reference level 1812 Overture playback.)

Since you might be a few hours away from the nearest dealer in Texas, you could email or call Robert at AZ and ask if he knows of any customer in East Texas that might be willing to have you over to listen. Before I was a dealer I did that.

I love my Crescendos. For me they sound best in a little larger room. I have them in a 15' x 22' x 17' high room and they sound fantastic. When I tried them in a 13' x 17' x 8' high, they sounded good but not as good as in the larger room. They are a good size full range speaker. I would never consider switching them unless I moved to a smaller space. I know many like them with tube amps but I prefer a lot of SS power even though I don't usually play them over 30 watts.

I have not heard the Daedalus but own the Crescendos and love them! They do everything quite well and will immerse you in a deep/wide sound field with unbelievable touchable imaging.

No more speaker shopping for me...