what speakers to buy

thanks again for all the input. still doing a lot of looking and reading (i know still not a substitute for listening) and checking out some of the other brands mentioned.
also think i will take a day trip to chicago in the next couple of weeks to really get an idea of what some of these brands sound like that way i can be more comfortable with whats out there.
at this point i think i may up the speaker budget a little.
short list right now is: 
focal 1038be  or sopra
dali euphonia 800 or epicon 8
revel ultima studio 2

also considering sonus faber amati homage

in my 1st post i mentioned EW andra II any thoughts on those

to all the maggie lovers i have heard some of older models and some others of that type and while i do think they sound good they are not for me on a daily basis. also ZU was mentioned and i seriously considered them for a minute but in the past i have never been happy with high efficiency speakers with more than say 50 watts.

i see all the brands and models everyone mentions and that is where the head starts to explode. so much to consider and there will never be enough time to see or hear it all. i did buy the preamp and amps by reputation and reviews and am extremely happy so far.

Probably the most open and natural sounding speakers you will find at your price point

http://boenicke-audio.ch/

Dragonbtx, are you near Springfield IL? (You said three hours from Indy or Chicago. I live in Indy.)

We have 3 dealers here, but a wider variety of what you want to audition can be found in the Windy City - a road trip is  an excellent idea. You could even plan it around a Chicago Audio Society meeting ;-). For the kind of investment you're making, take two days if you can.  Don't rush yourself. We went on an auditioning spree last spring and ended up going in a completely different direction from the one we originally thought we would take.

I've been in the hobby a long time and once had an 800+ square foot room with high ceilings - not easy to find speakers that satisfy in that large a space. My advice is to look at only truly full range speakers that can go very low and render dynamics realistically.  That usually means big and heavy and $$$ but not always.  

It's been nearly 15 years since I heard the EW Andra IIs but I thought they were outstanding - they sounded great on every kind of music played through them. They would work well in a large space. The Andras were 19k back in the day and will demand excellent and powerful amps with comparable front end to show what they can do. There was a pair earlier this month here on Agon with an asking price of $7500 - a screaming deal if there ever was one. The seller was in Nashville - worth a drive IMO.

I would also add the GoldenEar Triton Ones and (especially) the Triton References to your audition list. Just make sure the dealer has some serious electronics feeding them - GET speakers tend to get plopped down in HT theater rooms with mid-fi multi-channel amps that won't show what they can do. These are seriously good speakers: full range, huge soundstage, transparent, dynamic and they go LOW - courtesy of their integrated powered subwoofers (the Refs are rated to 12hz)  - while remaining superbly coherent. They are also, unlike some other speakers listed in this thread, easy to drive and not too fussy about room placement. And they're very attractive in a minimalist-modern sort of way. I dismissed the GET line as HT speakers for years until I actually heard them. 

Happy hunting!

I've been interested in hearing the Boenicke speakers given their growing rep for great sound in a small form factor.  Unfortunately they have very little North American presence (non in Canada).

Probably the most open and natural sounding speakers you will find at your price point

http://boenicke-audio.ch/

Sorry, but I don't think GoldenEar makes anything that comes close to the Focal Utopia line. I don't even think their lineup sounds better than the Focal 900 series, except for maybe their Reference.

Apology accepted. Curious if you've heard the T Ref's. I'd suspect you haven't.