the big one: how do you choose speakers? By what features, data?

This the most commonly overlooked opportunity by fellow forum users.

GB asking for help but holding back his location. Perhaps some

of the best speaker matches for you are within 50 miles?

If you can reach a computer you can Zoom in to the Friday Happy hour.

Free. Live in Euphrata? No problem!

Hard to go wrong with the much appraised $3.7 Mofi Sourcepoint 10 by the speaker guru Andrew Jones, but may have to wait for used ones to show up on the market.

Just from personal experience, in the price range you’re looking at, the KLH Model 5s are a great speaker for the money, and used would easily be affordable.  I replaced mine with Harbeths, though I have no intention of letting the Model 5s go, and honestly, they really held their own against the SHL5+ XDs.  The Harbeths sound better, but the KLHs certainly don’t have anything to apologize for.  That said, the Harbeth P3ESR XD also seem like a really good option, though I don’t have any personal experience with them.  I was considering the MoFi Sourcepoints before I bought the KLHs, and would still like to hear them, though I doubt the Harbeths would have to worry about being displaced.  Good luck with whatever you decide on!

@jeffseight it was not my intention to hold back my location. Apologies if I gave that impression. San Diego, CA

@kennyc the 8 is on my radar. I have a small-ish room, it would be perfect.

@jdougs I love the KHLs. I am a die-hard collector of any Henry Kloss product.

Years ago when I auditioned the KEF LS50 I also demoed their R700 which to me sounded similar to the LS50 but with more extension. Perhaps a used R700, R900 or the newer models R7 and R9.  Maybe buy a used LS50 to see if that’s the direction you’d like to go then sell it to buy a floorstander?