Theil's mate nail everything to my ears - with one exception - a bit analytical and clinical - not what I would call musical. But they are oh so transparent and you can correct those problems to some extent - but only to some extent - with tube upsteam gear.
I am not sure if I have heard anything in the $5K range (with one exception I will mention later) I would put ahead of the Theil actually. I can tell you speakers like Rockport, ProAc Carbons, and Lenehan Audio Reference blow it away, but at a significant increase in cost - damn I wish I could tell you of a few in your price range that would do it - they are that good. The only thing I can think of is the Lenehan ML1 Reference at $5K:
http://www.lenehanaudio.com.au/index.php/products/ml1-loudspeakers/ml1-specifications/ml1-reference-specifications.html
They are clearly better than the Thiels - but only go to 50hz or so.
Disclaimer:
I live close to the Lenehan factory, go down to hear their gear all the time and own a lot of it, so am almost certainly biased.
Thanks
Bill
I am not sure if I have heard anything in the $5K range (with one exception I will mention later) I would put ahead of the Theil actually. I can tell you speakers like Rockport, ProAc Carbons, and Lenehan Audio Reference blow it away, but at a significant increase in cost - damn I wish I could tell you of a few in your price range that would do it - they are that good. The only thing I can think of is the Lenehan ML1 Reference at $5K:
http://www.lenehanaudio.com.au/index.php/products/ml1-loudspeakers/ml1-specifications/ml1-reference-specifications.html
They are clearly better than the Thiels - but only go to 50hz or so.
Disclaimer:
I live close to the Lenehan factory, go down to hear their gear all the time and own a lot of it, so am almost certainly biased.
Thanks
Bill