"Best" speakers new/used under $3,000?


I am using a Musical Fidelity A3cr power amp, a Jolida Fusion pre-amp, and a Jolida tube cd player. I just bought the Fusion and love it. My speakers are B&W 640s (which I've owned for 15 years). I use a Klipsch dual 15" powered subwoofer as well. As much as I love my system, the speakers must be outdated, so I'm looking to upgrade. I have a $3,000 limit for speakers and would appreciate any opinions. I've considered B&W used 800 Matrix speakers as I like the brand, but am open to anything. Thanks.
sloane27

Showing 2 responses by robbob

Ditto on the Merlins. It is a speaker than ended my auditions and much of the curiosity to hear other speaker systems. I previously owned Magnepan 1.6. My friends run everything from Vandersteen 5a to Maggie 3.6 and we all enjoy the Merlins. I currently have TSM-MXr and may get a used set of VSMs (or possibly new) for a 2nd system.

Rob
Well...the responses are flooding in and I'm a fan of many of the speakers mentioned, including the Maggies and Selah Audio (still think the latest TSM and VSM's are better)....BUT.....

What type of listening do you plan to do? I only ask because I don't like my Merlins for casual listening. They demand my attention and that's not always a wonderful thing. Someone suggested the Ohm line and I like those speakers a lot. I don't really consider them reference quality, but they make beautiful music and fill a room in a special way. That might be more of what you're looking for. At the end of the day you should consider how you'll listen, what you'll listen to and where you'll be listening. The room is your main speaker of sorts. And some designs may fit one room well and sound terrible in the next. As you can probably tell, I'm no speaker snob. I still miss my Heybrook HB1's!
If you provide a few more details folks can probably home in on some good choices.

Rob