Speakers: $3,000-$4,000 on Audiogon

Ttowntony
Do you think, given my system, the S5.4s would be much better than the S3.4s?
I am slightly concerned that the move to the 3 way s5.4 (from 2 way s3.4) while it does offer more extension, might lose that excellent midrange coherence, immediacy, and natural sound of the simpler 2 way...
This is something i'm considering in a speaker upgrade next year. I am all in on the Dynaudio approach and sonic/aesthetic results, but feel like, at this point if I were to toss about $2.5k into my system the most bang for the buck would be from the S3.4 to the S5.4 (assuming everything is a gain).
All apologies to the OP for mis-directing this thread a tad.

For full range musical sound, Vandersteen 3a Sigs and Quattro's would fit the bill nicely. Used, you can get the 3A's for around $2200 and the Q's at ~$4500. Spendor Sp 1/2's and 100's are also great but you might miss the bottom octave. I would avoid Thiel (from a former Thiel owner).

Vandersteen's are among my favourite speakers, but I don't think they would be described as detailed - which I don't think too much of is such a great thing anyway - they are certainly full range, especially the Quattro. I'm not sure Cardas cabling would be best though - they don't need the relative filtering that "bright" speakers would need. As much as I loved my Vandersteens, the Merlins in my view are significantly more resolved, coherent, detailed, musical, and dynamic. The only area where they may fall short, is in ultimate deep bass slam (32Hz-22Khz +/- 2db) - never a problem for me however in my 12x19 room listening to acoustic music. Oh, and they are practically designed for and with Cardas cabling. While Merlins are typically a tube amp speaker, they are known to work well with Mac, especially with the units with autoformers or whatever ever that MAC transformer is called.

I tried to ignore this thread untill now.
Some very good recommendations....however statements in regards to Vandersteen Quatro locking detail and lower bass extention need to be clarify.....Owning Quatros for some time now doesn't make me an expert but I have to disagree with that statement. Besides, I have not seen Quatros on sell for less then $4500. Actualy - I have not seen any in the past few months. Would I recommend them if they were in your budget?........maybe. I would only recommended them to someone who is serious about building system around them.
Otherwise why batter.

Dpac,

The S5.4's are a huge step up over the S3.4 in terms of extension and detail. Plus, you get the Confidence tweeter in the S5.4.

Personally, I feel the S5.4 and maybe the Aerial Model 9 are the best speakers under $10K for full-range floorstanders. The S3.4 is also very special, but it's no match for the S5.4.