Vote for the best speakers in 10K range

I vote for the B&W N-802 or the N-801s..They are very beautiful sounding and definitely as good as any speakers out there in this price range.

Sschreiner: I heard the Vandersteen 5 with an Ayre V-1 (200 watts, solid state) and Ayre K-1 solid state preamp. It was magical. This is pretty expensive stuff. I would also recommend what I have now, which is a Pass Aleph 4 power amp and CAT SL-1 Ultimate preamp. If you want to spend less, you can look at amps by Marsh, Aloia, Monarchy, and possibly Electrocompaniet, as well as preamps by Audible Illusions, a used Audioprism Mantissa. As you can see, I am a solid state bigot (as far as power amps go), so you'll have to ask elsewhere for info about tube amps. These speakers may do well with tube amps. Since they have a built in amplifier to handle the bass, you will not be relying on your tube amp to deliver the bass which is where nearly all tube amps that I have heard fall down. Also, try to find a dealer who can properly set up and demonstrate the Vandersteen's. It is a difficult speaker to get "right". I highly recommend John at Audio Connection in Verona, N.J.

Now I'll offer up a speaker that I haven't heard. The Soundlab Millenium M-1 or Soundlab A-1. These speakers are electrostatics, not dynamic. People whose ears that I now and trust say these are even better than the Vandersteens. These are huge speakers, which unlike all other electrostatics deliver terrific deep bass, can play quite loudly (although not quite like dynamic speakers), and can disperse high frequency sound throughout a wide horizontal angle. The Millenniums won the Absolute Sound Golden Ear Award in 1999. If I had a dedicated room, with sufficient space, and the desire to spend this type of money on speakers, I would definitely check these out. Their dealer network is small and they are difficult to find in order to get an audition. Again, they require a high power, high current amplifier, but people who are in the know say that these are absolutely magical. Check them out at www.soundlab-speakers.com. Oh yeah. These two speakers are over 10K. I did see several great deals on used A-1's on this site and others around 5k. With no disrespect to others, if you get a good audition of Vandersteen and Soundlab's, and natural, full range sound reproduction is your goal. I think you will forget about names like B&W, Dunlavy and Martin Logan and Wilson Audio. IMO, these do not come close.

Rayhall, How can you give such a statement without ever hearing the Soundlabs.

Rosstaman - thanks for the reply on the Confidence 5's vs. the 3.3's. I've never heard the 5's, but I find it almost weird that I've seen so many practically new ones advertised for 40-45% of retail, and you practically never see 3.3's used for sale.