which excels at Rock and Roll

@jafant  Thank you! Went to e mail first thing this morning and came across your post. Just made me laugh and smile!  I'm still looking. I just cant get over how much the Oscar and Parker cost? I spent almost 10k for a special pair of Tekton Encores, that are almost 6' tall, 175lbs., have many drivers of top quality, used in another large area and sound Exquisite, worth ever penny.I  have never heard a speaker (for me and rock and roll)  sound so GOOD!   I know of a lot of research and hours went into development of the MARTENS, of which your paying for. I just have trouble wrapping my head and wallet around something so diminutive, alas beautiful. 

Then  I look at some of my CONSIDERATIONS, The platimon VC 1  around 6.5K and Arendal 1528 bookshelf at around5K,  Acora MRB-1 or maybe BorensonX3 floor stander, and feel like I'm getting more product for my money. I live an hour and change from Nashville where there a some shops. However, driving into Nashville is something I don't relish, almost as bad as Atlanta.  Thanks for the post and making me laugh. Robert  any thought appreciated.

@robshaw - You've got some great considerations besides the Martens, which yes, are on the pricey side, especially the Parkers with the stands.

Trip to Nashville might be worth it for that kind of coin to give some speakers under consideration a listen, otherwise you're kinda flying blind (or deaf, as the case may be). You'd get some idea of how they sound compared to each other, though they're likely to sound different in your listening space. 

There are places that let you audition gear at home for a certain length of time, and if you don't like, you can ship back with a nominal restocking fee. That's fine for some gear, but speakers??? Not something I would do.... 

I remember in the early-70’s the JBL L100 being sold as a "Rock ’n’ Roll" speaker.

@bdp24 I remember that and its the classic example of this myth. IMO it wasn't all that good at rock- it did all genres equally poorly. One of my employees restored a pair so we got to audition them extensively. I don't know anything about the reissue. 

 I totally agree Ralph. The original L100 (I haven’t heard the reissue) was actually "disgusting" sounding, not just wildly inaccurate and extremely colored, but also very amusical. Maybe the worst sounding loudspeaker I’ve ever heard (though there is also the Bose 901 ).

I remember in the early-70’s the JBL L100 being sold as a "Rock ’n’ Roll" speaker.

I also remember that! JBL L100 being sold as a "Rock'' speaker is salesman BS.

JBL L100 brochure see here. No mention of it being engineered or designed as a ''Rock'' speaker. 

Mike