Speaker recommendations, budget $10-15K

Thanks for the recommendations so far. Almarg, let me see if I understand your last point: If my ears are 2 feet from the wall behind me, I won't hear frequencies around 141 Hz (281.5/2)?

If my ears are 2 feet from the wall behind me, I won't hear frequencies around 141 Hz (281.5/2)?

Yes, that's correct, except that rather than saying you won't hear those frequencies, I would put it that those frequencies will be significantly attenuated.

Reflections from the wall behind you of those frequencies will arrive at your ears approximately out of phase with the direct signal arrival from the speakers, resulting in partial cancellation. The degree of cancellation will depend on how strong the reflections are, which in turn will depend on the reflectivity of the wall material at those frequencies.

Regards,
-- Al

If you sit closer to the rear wall you can lessen the cancellation effect. I don't know if they still advocate it, but at one point Audio Physics used to recommend a speaker setup along the long wall with the speakers very far apart, sharp toe-in and the listener within inches of the wall.

Rather than focus on a specific price point I suggest you focus on finding a full range speaker that is fairly efficient and designed to work close to the rear wall.

How about dynaudio c2? Great low end punch!

Mcondon,
You have gotten good suggestions and Al`s comments about room placement is very relevant. I`ve heard the Daedalus Ulysses on two occasions and it was very good(you could not go wrong with its selection). You list the Acoustic Zen Crescendo, good choice.I heard this speaker for two extended listening sessions at CES this year(90 minutes and then 1 hour the next day).It was driven by the Triode CORP.of Japan 50 watt PSET 845 tubed amplifier.The sound this system produced was extraordinary,truly one of the most impressive at the entire show.It was very natural,alive,dynamic yet also exceptionally transparent with excellent tone and overtones.This is a fairly large speaker that disappeared in the room.

The amp has a power meter on the front panel and it seldon passed the 1-4(some louder peaks pushed it to 25-35 watt range very briefly) watt level.I`d say average listening levels in that room(moderately large) were in the low 80s db range.So it does not appear to be power hungry at reasonable listening levels.The key point that impressed me was how natural and honest the music was reproduced, it was very engaging.This system out performed many far more expensive systems I heard there this year. I have no idea how it would sound with your very different type of amplifier(as good,better,worse?).A variety of music genre were played and all sounded excellent.

As others have said, in this price range there`re many good options.
Good Luck,