what speakers to buy

I’ll settle down for the long haul anytime with a hot and wild babe. Same for my Golden Ear Triton Reference.

I really shouldn't have included GE on that list. For me, they don't even fall into the fun category.

I auditioned the GE Triton 1s and found they were more fatiguing than just about any speaker I've heard. My girlfriend plugged her ears before the first song ended. Maybe it was just some weird room anomaly, but that was my experience with a pair driven by a McIntosh amp.

I really shouldn't have included GE on that list. For me, they don't even fall into the fun category.

I auditioned the GE Triton 1s and found they were more fatiguing than just about any speaker I've heard. My girlfriend plugged her ears before the first song ended. Maybe it was just some weird room anomaly, but that was my experience with a pair driven by a McIntosh amp.

That's fair. Don't buy them. Best of luck/times to you and your girlfriend. Presumably the two of you will be together for "the long haul".

Oh golly, this is why I suggested the OP go on an audition trip to hear a range of speakers for himself. Different ears and different gears and different music and personal taste etc etc. 

I haven't spent much time with GE Triton Ones but I did audition the Triton 3+ and 2+ extensively and one thing I never heard them sound like was fatiguing. They were also remarkably coherent top to bottom. I once upon a time tried to integrate Maggies and subs, and we listen to mainly big classical/orchestral/piano, and coherency is a MUST in our system. If anything, the Tritons were just a bit sweet on top and over-all slightly forgiving. OTOH, I found the KEF LS50s almost unlistenable so there you go. (I sometimes feel like the only audiogeek in the world who doesn't love these speakers.)

When we started looking for speakers I thought we would end up with Vandersteens, or Focals, or Sonus Fabers, or B&Ws or Alons or anything but Golden Ear Tritons. But we did and we're very happy.

So different strokes and all that.

• If you want end game speakers that you won’t grow tired of 3 years from now, look toward the British brands such as Spendor, ProAC, and ATC, but consider Vandersteen as well.

I’ve heard that kind of thing often, and I understand it’s usually put forth with the best intentions. But I’ve learned to put no stock in anyone’s claim that some brand of speakers, any brand, are "end game" speakers.

Anyone involved in high end audio for a long time can see that people settle on a wide variety of speakers they may feel as "end game." You get people who found they could only live with Quads, and people who found they could never live happily with Quads. Same goes for Spendor, Harbeth, and any other classic or popular brand one might mention. Plenty of audio forum threads show people settle on widely varying speakers as the most satisfying - that’s why there are horn devotees, panel devotees, lowther devotees, higher order crossover devotees, low order, it goes on and on.

There’s just no reason to expect some brand of speaker will be particularly satisfying and "end game" for other folks.

I was quite hyped on Harbeth, for instance, which are so often touted as "end game" "get off the merry-go-round" speakers. I read all the reviews, really enjoyed when I heard them at shows etc, and ended up with the SuperHL5Plus. It was a very nice speaker, but I sold it within a month or two because I realized it just wasn’t doing all the things I desire in a speaker, and that my Thiels did everything, to my ears, in a more satisfying manner.

This is not at all to knock people's speaker endorsements. I thrive on hearing what other people love about a speaker like anyone else, and it can help guide me towards new gear. It’s just that the "end game" speaker moniker has been a little pet peeve of mine simply because in any practical sense, it’s just not very predictive.

Well, from the patterns I've noticed, more listeners end their search and upgraditis with the British monitor brands and Vandys.

Of course it's all personal, and everyone here is tooting the horns of their favorite brands. I simply jumped on that wagon, not unlike the Focal, Revel, and Golden Ear fanboys.