New Speakers for $2000

Ninjasquirt, you're right about the ElectroMotion speakers. I confess to never having been all that impressed with Martin-Logan for some time, however. But every now and again I pop in, hoping to see what the buzz is.

I was in your boat a few months ago, settled on NOLA Boxers and haven't looked back. They have every attribute that you crave. Like you, I listen to everything from classical and rap to black metal. It's hard to find an audiophile quality speaker that lets it rip as hard on metal as it does on classical. For me, the Boxers are that speaker.

Some of the biggest things for me are the way they disappear. Huge soundstage with pinpoint imaging, to boot. They have some bass, enough to satisfy me since as we know, most music doesn't contain a ton of low bass content anyhow, even hip-hop.

I'd try to give them a listen, along with others that people here have suggested. I'm responding because you mentioned the M-L mids being too lazy for metal. That won't be a problem with the Boxers.

Good luck in the quest.

I would suggest a home audition of Ohm Walsh 1000s. Ohm offers a 120-day in-home trial period. You are at risk for the shipping charges only. Provided your room is not too large for them (there is a guide on the Ohm web site), they should deliver on your checklist.

Check out the Kef Q 700,Q 900 and XQ 20 speakers.All excel in imaging,soundstage and detail.

Two value leaders at your price point are Magnepan 1.7s at $2K and the GoldenEar Triton 2's at $2500. I've heard both. The GoldenEars give you flat response, near world class soundstage, and true full range performance as well as excellent transparency and clarity. Since the low bass is handled by built-in amplifiers, your amp situation would work with the GoldenEars better than the Magnepans.

Really, you shouldn't buy until you can hear at least one of these two speakers.

Given the list of qualities you lay out in your post its an easy recommendation. I would go with a pair of Vandersteed model 2's. At the $2000 price point, nothing even comes close. They are very transparent, neutral and have tons of resolution. In order to get the best out of them, though, there are some things you need to consider. They need to be placed and set up properly in the room. A lot of people just place them by ear like you do with most other speakers. Vandersteen gives you a simple formula that you use. It's not difficult; you just take some measurements in your room and plug the results into the equation and follow the setup instructions from there on. For equipment, since the Vandersteens are phase and time correct, they benefit greatly from electronics that are fully balanced and use 0 negative feedback. Just as an example, on my 2's, I have Wadia CD player going fully balanced into an Ayre V5 amp. Using those components, it allows the signal to stay in phase from the source so you can get the full benefit of what the speakers have to offer. Lastly, you have to do a real double biwire (2 separate runs of speaker cables). Makes a big difference. I use 2 runs of Audioquest CV-8. I know all this seems like a bit much, but if you take the time to build a system like this, you will not believe how good it sounds. For comparison, I have a pair of Wilson's in another room with even more expensive electronics. They sound great but my Vandersteen system is easily the better sounding. I hope this info helps you out. Good luck with your system and if you have any questions, just post them and I will check this thread and help if I can.