The under 10K speaker

I haven't heard the Sophias. But, I have listened to the Duette and Alexandria. If I could afford the Duette, I could easily live the rest of my life without ever buying another component, except as a replacement for wear.

I did not find the Wilsons to be colored in any way. I heard them with CJ solid state gear and they burned their synergy into my brain permenantly. The Wilsons do project their sound forward quite a bit, but I didn't get any sense of pushiness like most speakers that are forward give me.

Yup, Wilson will be my final speakers at some point.

I would go for the Avantgarde uno (used), with 10k you could get the duo even...You want detail and slam, thats the ticket.

If your room is big enough get the Genesis 201 (used).

I love array speakers, probably you can even scratch for the Pipedreams with 10k...

All else is not at the level IMHO.

FYI - although its a couple of years old, here's a review of the Focus FS-888 with comments comparing it to the Wilson Sophia:

http://www.onhifi.com/product/focusaudio_fs888.htm

I've been a Paradigm fan for years ... maybe because I live so close to Canada but mostly because I just like the way they sound. I'm running the S4's now on my main system with a pair of older but very sweet sounding Levinson amps setup in a bi-amp configuration pushed by a Modwright SWL 9.0 SE linestage. For input I run a Levinson 360S DAC tied to my PC (love FLAC) and to a Krell 20i running as my redbook transport. I run a sub but it's crossed very low and I keep the volume down. I have to say I am very happy BUT I have future mountains to climb. Your post caught my attention because in about a year I will be right where you are. My next step is to finally replace the Paradigms.

I have run through a few demo sets and the B&W Signature 800's caught my attention. They seem to be just out of $ range for me. I didn’t really feel the other B&W models that I could afford were as much of a leap from current setup. If I'm going to shell out $5-8 grand for new speakers (used) I will want a significant improvement.

My next demo will be Aerial Acoustics - I keep seeing posts raving about them. I have setup a demo in a few weeks.

If you haven’t already done so - checkout some of the recent posts (there is one regarding the VR4 Jr last week) I understand the person who founded the company came from ADS ... I know 3-4 old 70's hi-fi buffs who swear ADS made some of THE most fantastic sounding speakers of that era. Aerial seems to be the next step ... The 10T has a very loyal following from what I have been reading. The first thing I noticed is Aerial makes a hell of a nice cabinet. I figure at $10,000+ a speaker should be well made and look like $10K, as well as sound fantastic.

Anyone out there want to add two cents? I'd love some input here about Aerial Acoustics.

I want to thank you for the post - I will be reading it to see what people have to say. I intend to hang on to my next speaker set as long as the Paradigms. In fact I will still hang onto the S4's they will go into my office setup. I love the way they sound with tubes. The smaller S4 is fairly easy to drive and I'm not into real loud music much anymore.

Please post your thoughts when you are done ... I'd like to read about what you selected and how you think you did. I adding the Wilsons to the demo list.

I'd give the Aerial 9's a listen too - they are very very good.

Good luck with your search - you've listed several great speakers.