New speakers for a new start?

I also love the sound of electrostatics, but having massive 6 foot tall panels anywhere in my house is a definite no go.

One possibly surprising, fairly mainstream choice are Monitor Audio speakers. They are surprisingly fast in sound and are well controlled. Whereas something like B&W speakers definitely fall on the analytical and harsh side, I’ve found that the MA speakers are just on the fine line between warm and analytical in sound.

The Silver series is good. The Gold series is better. I haven’t heard their Platinum series of speakers. A friend is running his 6G Silver 500s (current MSRP of $3200 for a pair) with a Modwright preamp and Pass power amp and it sounds delightful. They seem fairly easy to drive from an amplification standpoint.The speakers have kept up with every improvement in amplification that he has made in the last several years.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/monitor-audio-silver-500-7g-loudspeaker

The sheer cost of MBLs’ makes my foray into diy Walsh drivers look like tilting windmills with a toothpick

@asvjerry I used to own a pair of Ohm Walsh - can’t remember which ones. I didn’t keep them very long but they were wonderful speakers when paired with the type of listening they were intended for. I googled Ohm Walsh and I was surprised to find out Ohm is not only very much alive but supporting their old speakers. Kudos for making your own!

’Breaking In’ is as much You as the component....👍🤞

Truer words were rarely spoken :)

I think I would lean towards speakers that handle the reproduction of octave 0 "in-house", so to speak; as opposed to subcontracting it to a pair of subs.

Now that ought to narrow down the field.

I’m not a huge fan of subs, though I have a 12" velodyne in my home theater and everyone loves it, myself included. But conceptually I feel that HT and 2-channel belong in different realms that shouldn’t intersect: different gear, separate rooms. What’s good for 2-ch isn’t good for HT, and vice versa (at least that’s how I look at it). Punchy, forward, bright, bombastic antics are OK with HT, desirable even. But even so, I set my sub’s low pass at 50 Hz which is a bit above where my front towers roll off. The idea being to let the towers do their job and let the sub shake the couch. I tried playing with higher crossover points and it was not enthused.

Now, I’m not suggesting that subwoofers may not be gracefully integrated in a high-quality 2-ch system, but I’m afraid that without active crossovers and DSP I would lack the expertise (and the patience) to do so successfully.

Then another vote for JBLs. 12 inch woofers move a lot of air. No sub needed.

Here is your end all choice in speakers

Revival top model is $5K

Revival Audio - Atalante 5 Speakers

Best sound I have heard in a very long time especial at this price.

Do you research on who designs them.

Happy Listening.