what speakers to buy


so this is my 1st time posting. the question is what speakers. i am going into this blind trying to put together a decent system on a budget. i live in a city where bose is considered the high end of high end and the nearest audiophile shops are hours away.
over the years i have owned a lot of vintage gear and still collect some of it. solid state and tube. some of the tube gear was marantz, macintosh, dynaco, heathkit, radio craftsmen, pilot etc. also the usual solid state marantz, pioneer, kenwood, adcom. speakers jbl, polk, altec (model 19 and vott), paradigm, klipsch, bozak, sansui, AR, advent. all the usual suspects
so far i have purchased a copland tube pre cta-305 and a pair of rogue audio m180 amps. all mint condition all under a year old for under half price of new. i also have a denon DP-60L TT 
(with sumiko pearl cartridge)
speaker budget is around 5000 give or take a 1000. if i'm patient i think i can find something that was originally in the 12-20k price range for what i want to spend.
so far i am leaning towards ew andra ii, dali euphonia 800, canton reference 3.2, revel studio ii. size is also a factor and all of these are within that limit.
i have a fairly large area open concept living /dinning and breakfast nook with high ceilings.
and i know "dont buy without listening" but not an option
so looking for some opinions/options

after speakers i will be getting tuner, cd and music server, current interconnects and speaker wire are all ZU mission


dragonbutx
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. 
Hey Dragonbutzz , additional thoughts. I had Zu cables . I went to Anti-Cables and now have Morrow . Like them both over Zu. Also had the lower priced Zu power cords. Then ran Pangea and now Silnotes . At $100 per cord , the Silnotes are hard to beat . So for budget consider the Silnotes power cords and the Anti-cables Level 3 or Morrow Level 4 speakers . . Also try to audition ( or maybe somebody can chime in on ) Bryston Middle T . They look like what you might want . But I haven't heard them . Big beefy " Meat and Potatoes " speakers . But sound is everything . I do very much like the Acoustic Zen Crescendo , but even used they are expensive . But  if I was using the Rogues , I'd avoid built in subs ( but that's my opinion ). With a low power system I'd put the Tritons on a very short list . So that's it for today's ramblings . I just blew up my Dennis Had Inspire and I'm off to Fed-X to ship it off to N.C. for repairs 😫. Too bad your not in Central California, I'd let you try my JBL 4312A's with custom Sound Anchor stands . Regards , Mike. 
Always a fan of of floorstanding monsters but Origin Director 108’s changed that, 109’s are going to tested but the company (which created Speakercraft) has engineered the finest architectural in ceiling, in wall speakers Money can buy in 2 short years. So good, the produce Bang and Olufsen’s 107 that run 10k. Currently, I’m moving new 108’s at 1k, 104 at $500 and we will order you any a/v item at 20-50% savings. (Text) 1-950-0143 for anything you planning inside, out, auto and landscaping,