Hear ye! Thou who knowist thy speakers..


All you speaker connoisseurs, your assistance would be greatly appreciated. I live near Yosemite Park in the Sierra Mountains of Northern California, so getting to enough high end audio stores to audition speakers is very difficult and time consuming. Steering me in the right direction will save me many days and hours of travel. I own a Meridian 508.24 CD player, Audio Research LS 16 pre-amp, Plinius SA 100 MKIII Amp. Nordost SPM interconnects on the Meridian and NBS Monitor IV interconnects on the pre-amp and amp. Black Mamba on the CD and NBS Monitor IV power cords on the rest. My current speakers are NHT 2.5i with either (I switch them occassionally) NBS Monitor IV (warmer) or JPS Superconductor+ (revealing) bi-wire speaker cables. For the money ($1300), the NHT 2.5i are the best speakers I've heard, but it's time to get a speaker that compliments the rest of my system. I'm willing to spend no more than $5,000 for used or new speakers. I do have them hooked-up to the DSS receiver and DVD (stereo), but I mainly listen to music. Classical, jazz, world beat, rock.. If it sounds good, I'll listen to it. Which speakers in your humble opinion should I focus on and why?
rosstaman
My advise would be - not necessarily in this order - Vandy 3A sig's, Proac 2.5's or if you can stretch to about 7K (what!!) the Proac 3.8's. These 3 speakers are really the only ones that really move me towards a purchase at this point. The 3.8's are the best of the bunch. I don't like Hales, Audio Physics, or Aerials. Just my opinion.
Did I forget to mention my wife..."The speakers should look furniture not spaceships!" My livingroom is approximately 20'X 40' with high ceilings. I really liked the sound of the Dunlavy SC IV's, but they are a bit too tall.
A used pair of B&W N802 would also be in the relm of possibility. I have owned this speaker for almost a year and it has not stopped impressing me. As far as looks go - you either love them or hate them. My wife fortunately loves the look of our N802s, and we both love the sound. Check out www.bwspeakers.com for more info and photos. Cheers Dan