Personal speaker evolution

pagawan, I bet if you get to hear the Vandy vs those others you will fall in love. With Theil being owned by a new company, they seem to have changed sound. Personally, I felt Theils have always been a bit hot, but I can see what some folks like aspects of them. The Maggies are also a bit bright for me (my Vandy dealer sells both). I have heard some of the Maggies run with great gear and the sound was pretty good, but personally I've never been able to connect with them. Great big sound though. I just like balanced best I guess, but others hear and want other things. Great luck.

Technics - Polk - Paradigm - Tyler Acoustics - JM Reynaud - Daedalus (waiting on them to be shipped)

Act 1:
JBL L88 (present on my 16th birthday, never loved them, desperately wanted AR2ax)
JBL L100s (much better, enjoyable, not my dream speakers, traded to cousin for auto repair)
KLH 17 (me and 10  million others took these to college)
AR 2ax (FINALLY.  1972 was a very good year)

... much later...

Act 2:
Maggie 1.2 (lovely, a little colored...but - look ma! - no boxes!!)
Spica TC50 (for the den, interesting experiment)
Alon V MkII (back to cones & domes, albeit dipoles, paired with Herron pre and amps. Happiness at last!)
Nola Mini's (office/HT - GREAT, fun speakers)
Life is good.

...and then...(cue funeral march)...Recession/crash of 2008-2009.
Downsize. Move. Sell off big rig. Nola Minis stolen during house break-in. (SOB!). Reduced to Dad's office lifestyle system. Adieu, high end audio. Darkness ensues.

Act3:
Near field listening with significant other's Genelec 1030a's. Very accurate speaks but do not work well for normal listening applications. (Duh.)

Spousal unit (Opera Beau) and self now speaker shopping for living room system. Searching for musical, affordable and smallish speakers plus nice integrated amp for happy listening with money left over for live concerts and travel. He wants standmounts. I like floorstanders. Visited local dealer. Bad news:  B&W Diamond series not in our price range. Auditioned a highly lauded, "giant killer" monitor du jour which sounded like crap with massed strings. Also, terrified Opera Beau by expressing enthusiasm for vintage Apogees. (Just foolin' honey!)  Good news: several promising options within our price range. 

To be continued...

Listening use: 70% classical, mostly opera and large scale orchestral, along with vocal, instrumental and chamber; 15% movies and opera DVDs; 8% jazz; 7% rock. 

rackon-

May I suggest looking into Thiel loudspeakers? If you enjoy Vandersteen speakers, get yourself a Thiel demo.  Specifically, the CS 2.4 model for openers.  Happy Listening!

- Infinity Reference 3 large bookshelf speakers, bought 1988 $?
- Infinity Reference 60, oak, 1991, $2kAUD
- Infinity Renaissance 90, black oak, 2009, $1400USD
- Marten Coltrane Alto's, 2009, $14.5kUSD
- Magico S5, M-coat titanium, 2013, $lots
- Magico S5 Mk2, M-coat titanium, 2016, $lots