help narrowing down my list of speakers, $2500

I have a speaker for you to checkout. It's a bit more than the $2500 but you may get lucky and find a pair at a discount or used. It's called the Genelec HT208B. It is already actively biamped. So you do not need the amplifier(you could sell yours). Just hook up your preamp or cd player with volume control and you are ready. It has all sorts of adjustments on the rear.It can be tweaked to sound good in nearly any room because of this.This speaker can hit 120db peaks. It has a 120 watt amplifier for the 8 inch driver and a 120 watt amplifier for the 1 inch tweeter. Don't let the HT fool you. A friend and I including the dealer listened to this speaker up against dynaudio 1.4SE hooked up to MC1201s( Mcintosh 1200 wpc monoblocks). The Genelecs spanked that ass!! I believe they retail for $4800.00 a pair. This is the brand used in many recording studios. The sound is uncoloured, precise and the soundstage is huge!!Rock sounded absolutely fabulous on these speakers. Come to think of it everything did. Hunt them down and have a listen before you narrow your choices down.

Good Luck!

If you could get a pair of the Aerial Acoustics 7b's at your price I would jump on them.
Also, Von Schweikert and Tyler Acoustics would be a good choice, among others.
Best Regards

You may be missing the best of the bunch: Focus Audio FS688. List $2990 but can be had for around $2500.

An article in YK Audio in Hong Kong stated they thought they were possibly the best bookshelf speaker ever made.

Hmm, I was really looking at floorstanders. As for those bi-amped speakers, no thanks. I like being able to alter the sound of the speakers by using different amps, that part of the fun of audio.

-Jamie

Hello Jamiec001,

I have the same taste in music as you and I love my Jean Marie Reynaud Trentes. They will do everything you've discribed above and more. They are so good, they will also help you appreciate many other types of music, as they've done for me. Since I've had these speakers in my system, my cd collection has more then doubled. The new, to me, artists include Roxy Music, Bill Frisell, Ryan Adams, Michael Buble, Thomas Dolby, Junior Wells, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jennifer Warnes, Howlin' Wolf, Kenny Burrell and the list continues to grow. I've always been a big rock fan, Led Zep, The Who, Jimi, The Doors. I also love what is now considered alternative, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, SoundGarden, Janes Addiction, et all. You mentioned you will be adding a sub, these speakers also work very well with the pair of Rel Strata IIIs I've matched them with. These speakers have really helped me appreciate my system and the music much more then I used to........John