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"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 As much as I love my system, the speakers must be outdated, so I'm looking to upgrade.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
thuhaile
105 posts
 
Usher Be-718 or Usher Mini Dancer 1
dschultz
19 posts
 
If you can find a good pair of B&W Matrix 800 (assuming you really do mean this speaker: http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/691bw800/index.html ) - JUMP on it!!! Nothing else mentioned will come even close to that experience.

If anyone disagrees and has a pair to sell at that price? Let me know and I will purchase them immediately.
waveman's avatar
waveman
79 posts
 
Ditto Capt369. Merlin VSM's
robbob
273 posts
 
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
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Mtrot - I'm sorry to hear that. They had incredible product and screw it up. When they presented HPS-938 at at audio show in 2004 it was sensational - they were sold out for many months ahead. They got Absolute Sound Editor's choice 5 years in a row plus other awards including "Decade Award" from "Enjoy the Music" and Blue Moon Award. It looks like after that everything went south.
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