Need some recs/help/thoughts on speakers for a 2nd system


Looking for some thoughts and or suggestions on a pair of speakers. We are building a house and all of my super nice gear will be for a home theater room. I am putting together a 2nd system for the living room. I want the speakers to perform well with 2 channel music and be pretty good for movies/TV. Budget for a pair is 3k new or used. My HT room is all B&W 800 Nautilus so I want something different than B&W in the living room. The room is pretty large, as the house is an open floor plan. The living room and kitchen are "blended" together. The amp for the living room will be a McIntosh MC7205. There are almost no places to demo speakers around here, so I am hoping to find some people here that have knowledge of them. Here is a list of several that I am seriously considering:

Tannoy Revolution XT 8F
Sonus Faber Liuto
KEF R700
Focal Micro Utopia Be
Legacy Expression
Sonus Faber Venere 3.0
Dynaudio Contour S3.4
Focal Aria 926
Martin Logan Theos
Monitor Audio Gold 300
I would love to hear thoughts on the list or some I should look into that are not listed. The room layout is attached. Speakers will be on far right wall with the fireplace between them.

http://i.imgur.com/ixifYZR.jpg?1



ever43

Showing 2 responses by erik_squires

So one of the reviewers at Stereophile has Monitor Audio and B&W speakers, and for the life of me I cannot fathom how he can listen to both and not find one or the other completely off in speach, vocals and treble balance.

Normally I recommend Monitor Audio as great values and great, neutral speakers. But with the B&Ws, I’m worried you’ll become dissatisfied with one or the other’s treble and vocal performance. However, if you want different that’s a good option.

Now, if you wanted something exotic, like a great Be tweeter, in a floor standing 2-way, you could just about afford a Taylor speakers Klang-Tong build.  The woofer too is just unbelievably good.

Oh, older Monitor Audio series Silver. :) They have the low end thump and are quite reasonable. :)