Looking for a high-quality 2-way speaker

Even though they are difficult to find at shows and are not a well known brand try to check out the Intuitive Designs Gammas. I finally have the right amp for them and they certainly perform at the level you are looking for. They retail around $12k.

One thing that the Carmel's are not is Boomy, something else in the electronics chain Had to be created the problem.read any reviews on them ,even against Any $30k loudspeaker they shine as far as continuous ness ,imaging , Sound staging,as well as depth and the a Bass is crisp fast and detailed To a solid 35 hz. If you want the extra slam of the last octave buy a high quality sub then you will have a loudspeaker that lacks nothing
A true reference. But be warned they will let you know of any changes you make Good or bad in your system.

Take a look at Audiomachina and The interview and Pearls is an interesting read.
Here is one quote from the interview:
" I guess if you are going to abandon first order, then, in a sense, it doesn't matter what you do. Everything is downhill from there. I think if I didn't have a choice to use first order, I would go straight to the fourth order, just because it gets you the benefits of the high order filters with the minimum number of driver drawbacks. But anybody who is using 12dB, for example—and you see this all of the time—there is a three way system and they are running 12dB per octave crossovers, and the midrange is wired in inverse phase. It is out of phase to the woofer and to the tweeter. It boggles the mind that people will put up with that as a transducer. If you feed a square wave into that, what comes out is going to look nothing at all like what went in."

I personally haven't compared them, but know someone who has.

The Rockport's were the winner - highly musical and realistic - the Magico was dry, analytical and brittle - and the YG was similarly analytical. The Raidho was was better, but still didn't have the realism and musicality of the Rockports.

Like another poster mentioned I would, in the price range of the speakers you are looking at, consider the Rockport Mira and arrange an immediate audition.

However if you wanted to take a bit of a punt to save a heap of money, the same person that has heard all those speakers (he is a real high end nut who goes to all the shows all the time and has heard everything under the sun - he got the Rockport's himself) was very impressed with my speakers - the ML2 Limited made by a guy down the road from where I live - Mike Lenehan at Lenehan Audio.

Made from MD3, lined internally with 1/4 inch copper, uses 10 gauge hand wound inductors, and Duelund Cast capacitors.

He judges them to be the equal of any speaker has heard - but at a lot less - about $15K. The problem is the chances of you being able to hear them is zero unless you live in Australia - which is why it will be a big punt.

Thanks
Bill