Advice on choosing speakers

Take a look at Tyler Acoustics, Reimer Acoustics, Aerial Acoustics and the new VMPS RM30. All speakers are made in America (Aerial's cabinets made outside USA) and all four companies are run by people that stand by their product. What I also like about these companies is they avoid the MK I, MKII, MKIII fiasco - which (to me) means they don't change the design of their speakers directly after they release a product.

Hi Matt:

I can propose two speakers at different price points, both of which I own (I know them well):

(1) Vienna Acoustics Mahlers ($4-$5k used; $9,800 new):

The Mahlers have a lot of finesse for the price. They are very transparent and image extremely well. They can handle a lot of power and go extremely loud cleanly, with the most powerful midbass I have heard short of big Wilsons. They are voiced to be a bit warm sounding, which bothers purists, but in my system, it really works. While they are efficient at 90 db./watt, each speaker has two 7' mid/woofers and two 10" woofers per speaker and they produce a lot of mid-bass energy, thus requiring high-quality, powerful amplification and a judicious choice of speaker cables to control the woofers. The woodworking on Vienna Acoustics speakers is about as good as it gets in hi-fi and they tend to get high marks for aesthetics.

Here is the webpage for the speaker and webpage to three reviews (I find the Audio Magazine and Stereophile reviews to be accurate and informative):

http://www.sumikoaudio.net/va/prod_mahler.htm

http://www.sumikoaudio.net/va/idx_awards.htm

(2) Revel Salons ($9k-$11k used; $19k new):

The Salons use 4th order crossovers and go even louder than the Mahlers (that means incredibly loud). They convey a lot of detail and are very accurate, having little coloration -- they sound like what they are fed. Their bass performance is accurate and not exaggerated. At +/- 86 db/watt efficiency and dropping to 3 ohms in the bass, they require powerful amplification that is stable into low impedences. More so than the Mahlers, they really need power to open up. They are otherwise very transparent and open sounding, but having 4th order crossovers, do not image as well as the Mahlers. The styling is somewhat unconventional, but is very much liked by many. Here is the webpage and the two best known reviews:

http://www.revelspeakers.com/products/overview.asp?ID=1

http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/96/

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/tas131_revel.html

Both of these speakers do rock incredibly well and have finesse. Both are also lovely with simpler music, as they are very transparent and natural sounding. I would say that both are all-around performers. While the Revel has more potential and is the better product, I actually prefer the Mahlers in my systems for rock. All of those drivers move a ton of air and create a slightly fat midbass -- incredibly fun for rock. Speakers like Kharmas, Avalons and Veritys are more coherent and more transparent, but they offer no speaker anywhere near these price points that can really do rock.

Assuming that they are set up right, fully broken in, and used with the right ancillary equipment, either of these speakers would be extremely competitive with the B&W's you are considering and any other speaker at their respective price points, especially when it comes to rock. They are both also still in production and have respectable resale value. As for the quality of the companies behind these speakers, Revels are made in Orange County and are part of Harmon International, a publically listed company that also owns JBL, Infinity and Mark Levinson, and is known to stand behind its products. Vienna is an Austrian company that seems to be quite successful and well run, and its U.S. distributor, Sumiko, is one of the strongest hi-fi distributors in the U.S.

Good luck.

If you get turned on by craftsmenship. Be sure to look at the Italian Sonus Fabers. I own their Concertinos, which is at the bottom of their line. But, the build is beautiful and solid. And I'm very pleased with the sound. But if I was your shoes I'd consider some of their floor models.

One brand you might go for is Genesis. They offer biamped models (you buy the spkrs with a subwoof amp included) and offer reasonable detail and low end attack. As some of their models retail for ~12-15k, they shoudl be well within your budget used.

My two cents is that you should investigate time and phase aligned speakers if you really want to hear the music as the artist intended. A few great brands who have been around for a long time and have quality reputations are vandersteen, theil, and green mountain audio. Have fun!