Burn it Down and Start Over

Hello All,

My remodel of my entire house should (operative word, should) be complete in a few months.  I am so blessed to have the opportunity to build a new two-channel system from scratch.

I have some existing components from my old system that I will sell off or set aside as I get new ones.  (Krell K300i, T+A DAC200, Innuos Zen Mini Mk3, etc.)

While "where to start" is a circular argument in my experience as it is a complex system and synergy is everything.   So, I'm going to start with speakers, then amp, preamp, source, then room, and lastly cables and tweaks.

Let me interject a bit about the new room as it is important.  My listening room will be my living room.   I've had to make some accommodations to appease the architect and my wonderful wife's aesthetics, which I also agree with.   

The room is about 40' x 40' x 9.5'.   There is no true front wall, but rather an island fireplace beside which my speakers will be placed with my equipment behind it (not ideal, but it was a compromise I can live with).   To the left is a large wide hallway that leads to multiple rooms and wraps around to the right eventually coming into another room (18x14x9.5) behind my right speaker.  In the living room right in front of the speakers, the ceiling is 9.5', but to the left the ceiling is 18' high.   About 8' from the right speaker is a wall of glass doors with heavy drapes.   Floors are cushioned (acoustic pad under) hardwood laminate with heavy oriental carpets over.   No other room treatments yet.   Those will come later.

The speakers will sit on either side of the fireplace, making them about 11' from each other (center to center).   My listening position will be about 12' back on an equilateral triangle.

Speakers...

For most of my life I've been drawn to dipoles, and specifically electrostats.   I've owned many Magnepans (I know these are not electrostatics), Martin Logan, Quad, XStatic (current speakers).  I've also owned Dahlquist D10, Klipsch La Scala, Byer, Snell, and a number of box speakers, the most recent being Totem Acoustic Element Metal V2.   All have been good, but not quite what I want going forward.

I'm very concerned that with no front wall traditional electrostats won't perform well.   So, I'm thinking about large open baffle designs.  The most appealing is the Pure Audio Project Quintet 15 with the Voxativ AC-X Field Coil driver.   But I've never actually heard them.  I've heard the smaller Duet 15's at AXPONA 2026 and thought they sounded pretty good.  I've talked with Ze'ev, the owner of PAP, and he really likes his speakers (big surprise there!).   

I listen primarily between 70 dB and 85 dB, with peaks up to 95 dB. The system must deliver a harmonically rich, silky, and enveloping midrange at low and moderate levels, preserve spatial realism and instrument individuality at reference levels, and scale dynamically without compression or glare when pushed. The presentation should remain coherent and musically engaging outside the sweet spot, with realistic attack, natural decay, and no reliance on loudness or room gain to sound alive.

Insofar as my music, which is ultimately what this is all about, my typical music is Jazz and contemporary Jazz (Peter White, Rippingtons, Keiko Matsui, Lowell Hopper, Chris Standring, Paul Hardcastle, Seal, Sade, Cassandra Wilson, Melody Gardot, etc.).   Progressive Rock (Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Saga, Camel, UK, Asia, King Crimson, Galaxy, Omega, Nektar, ELP, etc.).   And some occasional 70s/80's/90's generic Rock.

The speaker budget is up to $30k new or used and I'm OK with either.

Do any of you own/listened to the PAP Quintet 15's?   Do you like them?   What do they do well and not so well?

What other speakers you all recommend that I should consider over the next few months?