Needing to replace thirty year old speakers.

@2psyop - So true, and it’s so difficult for many people! Not that many dealers out there (I live 2 hours from a major city, but many people are much further), and often the one with the speakers you’re interested in doesn’t carry amps/preamps etc that you own or want, to do some system matching. The guy who sold me my Treo CTs bought a pair of $40,000 speakers from Germany (there is one US distributor/dealer) that he never auditioned, and decided on them after a recommendation by his hi-fi "guru". That is a leap of faith! Fortunately, he is very happy with them, but I don’t have the courage nor the dough to do something like that. So, we depend on trusted sources and reviews, and hopefully auditions, but getting that synchronicity in your system between components can be tricky. 

mbruflodt25 - your best course of action should be to go to Denver and demo speakers at High-End Audio stores - there are several with many brands mentioned.  Worth it for the next 30yr investment 😉

@mbruflodt25 wrote:

I have a thirty year old pair of Canton ergo 80 speakers. I 

never felt they were that good.

So the problem has always been the speakers, and whether they're 30 years old, 50 or 2 months is effectively irrelevant. However time and again we're plastered with the "buy new speakers"-advice that adheres to the mantra that buying new will make your day. It's certainly good for business, but as the buying incentive for the audiophile that is also wholly irrelevant. 

My advice: buy used, and get the most of your $5k budget. Not least: do some research, go listen to speakers where you can and see if it points you in the direction you need to go. Spending $5k for used speakers can get you some pretty cool stuff if you know where to look and what to look for. 

How does everyone feel about auditioning speakers at shops with the eventual sale occurring online/elsewhere for used equipment? I haven’t auditioned speakers in forever because I feel like I’m not being fair to the storeowner - using them and their time with no gain for them... thoughts? I really would love to start auditioning speakers but I’m a firm believer in buying used and having my budget go much further. 

Further to my post directly above, my thought is to approach some local retailers to see if they'd offer an hourly rate to audition speakers as I'm not really in the market to buy so at least they're covered for their time. I suppose I may fall so deeply in love with something that I could become a customer but I'd probably be more inclined to see if I could find it used if possible.