best used speaker for around 2500?

You can buy brand new Living Voice Auditorium for around $2.5K. that would work very well with tubes.

http://www.livingvoice.co.uk/audit.htm

http://www.livingvoice.co.uk/auditrev3.htm

http://www.livingvoice.co.uk/auditrev4.htm

Meadowlark Shearwaters Hot Rod...and with money to spare...

around $2750 to $3000 (depending on the "vintage"/condition) and try a pair of Merlin VSM-SE's. Great speaker, especially with tubes and your music preferences. They can also be updated to Millenium status at a reasonable cost (the Millenium version will set you back $7K plus new).

I had money to spare after buying my pair ( Hot Rod version ). Wonderfully extended, neutral and musical with a superb midrange. I have a Copland CTA-301 myself, with a Celeste W-4070SE and Ensemble Voiceflux biwire cables.

thanks for your input. A few look interesting. The Genesis, the VMPS, the Merlins, and 3A's.