Best speaker in the US $ 30-45.000,00 range

Consider the new Vandersteen Model 7, the Magnepan 20.1 supplemented by one or two JL subwoofers according to your room and budget.

Finally, before you spend that kind of coin, give a listen to the B&W 802D, relatively cheap at $15K a pair, but competitive in that price range.

I have heard all of these speakers. My personal favorite is the Magnepan 20.1 + JL subs, but that's anything but a petite setup.

I also am partial to Sonus Faber. Excellent tonal balance and always musical presentation with a deceptively high level of detail that's never irritating.

After the review in Abso!ute Sound a few months ago, I wouldn't buy anything in that price range without auditioning the Pioneer TAD-CR1 Compact Reference, at about $36K. Make sure to leave budget for their dedicated stands, as the spkrs weigh 100 lbs each.

I haven't heard 'em, but the review sure sounds enticing. I get the impression that these have the speed to keep up with the electronics driving them. With a frequency response out to 100 KHz, their rise time should outpace just about every other speaker out there.

12-24-10: Weseixas
36K for mini monitors(TAD CR1) and the stands are optional, absurd indeed.

Who ever said they were minimonitors? They are 25"h x 13.4"w x 17.5"d, and weigh 100 lbs. each. They are also linear out to 100 KHz, which means their rise time is about 3 to 5 times faster than most conventional speakers.

01-01-11: Weseixas

Years ago, any speaker of such dimensions were classified as Bookshelf type, years later such size speakers were referred to as Mini monitors when placed on stands, coupling them to the floor, as opposed to full size monitors that were placed directly on the floor.

There was never a time when "monitor" equaled "floor-standing" and "stand-mounted" equaled "minimonitor." There are many non-floorstanders which are not minimonitors.

Monitor makers such as JBL, Altec-Lansing, Electro-Voice, Westlake Audio, and Genelec make or made very large heavy monitors. e.g., 28"h x 40"w x 24"d, that weigh from 130-300 lbs. each, that are not meant to sit on the floor. They are full range, of imposing size, with enormous dynamic range, but no one would ever call them "mini-monitors" just because they are designed to be stand- or wall-mounted. Many monitors are purposely NOT floorstanders to make sure all drivers are in line-of-sight (really, line of ears) of the mixdown engineer and to minimize floor boundary reinforcement of low frequencies.

Today's mini-monitor morphed from two lines--the compact bookshelf speaker (not the oversized ones) and the compact remote monitor--an easy-to-transport monitor for onsite use in nearfield mode for playback and mixdown. Most true "mini-monitors" have little meaningful bass extension below 70 Hz. The CR-1 is certainly not one of those.

Examples include The Wilson WATT without the Puppy and the M&K mini-monitors, which were often supplemented with their own powered subs.

The operative word here is "mini". A true mini-monitor is small, maybe 6"x8"x10" up to 8"x10"x14" (1120 cubic inches). Meanwhile, the TAD CR-1 is 24.7"h x 13.4"w x 17.5"d, making for a volume of ~5792 cubic inches (and a weight of 101 lbs. each). This is the equivalent volume of a tower speaker of about 45"h x 10"w x 13"d. There is nothing "mini" about it. The stand it sits on is about 18" high, not the 32" or so that 10"h minimonitors require.

The CR-1is "compact" only relative to the speaker it derives from, TAD's flagship Reference One, a 330lb. 51"h x 21.75"w x 27"d floorstander that retails at $70,000/pair. It has some of the most advanced and exclusive driver technology on the pro or home audio market. The stand-mounted CR-1 offers the same overall performance, but gives up one woofer and about 1/2 octave of bass extension for a little over half the price of the flagship. Given their provenance, they may even represent a particularly good value, regardless of what they sit on.

01-02-11: 2chnlben
Jonnyb53:

You too seem to be impressed with the TAD speakers. Have you had a chance to hear the big Reference One's? Not sure where you live, but Audio Video Logic, out of Des Moines, will be holding a TAD, Krell and Nordost seminar on the evening of Thursday, January 27. Andrew Jones, of TAD, will be on hand and both the "mini monitors" (LOL) and the big Reference Ones will be demo’d on the $100,000+ house system. seminar

Disclaimer: I can’t afford either pair of TAD speakers…

Thanks a lot for the heads-up, but that would be a 3800-mile field trip (I'm in Seattle). Sounds like a great open house. I go to my local high end store's annual vendor open house, which includes visits from Wilson, Vandersteen (I've heard the Model 7), Mikey Fremer, Ayre, SME, Audio Research, Magnepan, VTL, Transparent, B&W, Classe', etc. and they've been very enlightening. Unfortunately AFAIK there is no TAD dealer in greater Seattle.

The TAD speakers are way out of my reach too, but maybe you could consider the Pioneer's trickle-down versions, the stand-mounted Pioneer S-2EX at $6K and the floorstanding S-1EX at $9K. They use a cost-reduced version of the TAD's coincident mid/tweet driver with the 250-100Khz range. It uses magnesium for the midrange cone, but other than that, uses vapor-deposited beryllium for the tweeter plus neodymium magnets as in the TAD products.