Dare I admit? Low end speaker confusion - help

The problem is that all loudspeakers, regardless of price, are in some way flawed.
You've grown used to the flaws in the sound of your speakers, and you like it.
Why do you want to spend money to replace something you like?

BTW, from the language in your post, you do not sound like an "Aragon, California Audio Lab, & Audio Physic" type of listener.
Klipsch speakers would seem better suited to your preference for an immediate, punchy and lively presentation.

What speakers have you heard?

Well, it could be that the old speakers just work well in your room via some coincidence of acoustic synergy. I wonder if the magic would be lost if you took them into a different room or location?

Then again, it just might be that the speakers have a very natural balance or some particular quirk of frequency response that sounds great to you. Who knows?

Recently, I bought a set of old Altec bookshelf speakers from the 70's at a garage sale. Each contains a 10" woofer, a 10" passive radiator, and a conventional dome tweeter -- seemingly nothing special. But when I hooked them up and cranked them, they really sang. Great bass, dynamics, a natural frequency balance, and really good vocal and midrange performance. It made me take a step back and scratch my head. I had to ask myself, "where's all the progress of the last 30 years?"

I've owned a lot of highly respected speakers over those years, and my current Virgo II's and Stax 4040 headphone system are both great at what they do. Still, I can appreciate the fundamental rightness of those old Altecs and I can't say that my other speakers are enough better to justify their cost. But I can say that I enjoy all of them for their particular character traits and the musical experience they provide.

So I can see where you might have trouble justifying the costs to improve upon your speakers. That said, you could still be crazy. :)

if you like and are really happy with your speakers, then you're a lot better off than a good deal of posters around here.

i wouldn't mess with it, if i were you.

read: run, RUN from this site and never look back!

:-)

Give the Gallo Reference 3 a listen {list:$3000}.If you like them,I may be able to help on pricing.They use the CDT tweeter that offers 300 degree dispersion,{2} 4" kevlar mids and a 10' woofer.You might be surprised how good they are and no need to string the whole mess together to establish phase coherency.