Hear ye! Thou who knowist thy speakers..

The Revel for $3k (fine midrange); the 803N ONLY if your room allows listening in the farfield (they don't integrate well closer than 10-12' away; splashy if close to sidewalls, too, and a bit out of control in the bass); used Aerial 8, if you need the warmth; demo Verity Audio Fidelios can be found for $4k (but since woofers are rear-firing, you must dial them in); Thiel 2.3? (a bit relentless). After careful demos of all of these reasonably spouse-approved speakers (except the Revel!), I decided to bite the bullet and get demo Verity Audio Parsifal Encores ($8k). They are unbelievably resolving, work exceptionally well in the nearfield (7' triangle), tolerate sidewalls pretty well, and, with their reversable woofers can be set up in almost any decent room easily. You will not believe the quality of the midrange!...and they are VERY spouse-friendly. Your system as described could use a speaker as resolving as these. I too started my search in the $3-4k range, but HAD to buy the Encores, and know I will probably NEVER replace them! Now for a good digital front end....OY!

I think you have answered your own question when you mentioned the Dunlavys i suggest you buy a pair of Athena's or currently know as Aletha's (same speaker) they sound incredible and will work great with your plinuis amp and best of all they look great !! check out the demo pair under full range speakers cherry wood finish $4795 i think or call Brian at hello hi fi they are a platinum dealer of dunlavys. They advertise on this wedsite . good luck definitive .

Thanks, everyone. This has been very helpful. I've recently heard the Dynaudio 1.3 MK SE and couldn't believe the quality of sound coming from bookshelf size speakers. I'm off to San Diego for a few days and will audition some of your suggestions. I'll keep you posted.

FYI-I auditioned the Hales Revelation 3, ProAc 3.8, Dunlavy Aletha and SC IVa, Dynaudio Contour 1.3 MKII SE, Contour 3.3, Confidence 3 and 5, B&W 802, Maggies 3.6R and Martin Logen Prodigy. They all had their pluses and minuses. I was most disappointed with the Maggies. They were very transparent, but didn't have near the detail in the high frequency. The one speaker that made me smile was the Dynaudio Contour 3.3. The Dynaudio's were the nicest that I heard all around. The Confidence 5 was my second choice. Very true to the source, but I really liked the full range, tight bass and detailed sound from the Contour 3.3.s. Again, thanks for all your thoughts and advice.

Hi Rosstamen. Seems like you've been exercising your ear/brain, eh? Your reaction to the Dynaudio recalls a conversation I had with a dealer just before I purchased my Verity Parsifal Encores: as I understood that Verity sources their custom drivers from Dynaudio and ART (current shop run by E. Skaaning, who was responsible for Dynaudio's best drivers), how does the comparison hold up between a Canadian outfit using these tweaked drivers vs Dynaudio's own shop? His response was that the Dynaudio drivers sound great individually, but lack the coherence of Verity'e efforts with their tweaked drivers. Hmmm.... My reasoning revolves more around Skaaning's incredibly smooth midrange (5.25") and that Verity lets it run full-bore, only crossing to the Dynaudio 8" woofer at 150Hz, and Dynaudio's tweeter at 5.5kHz. Since you were so taken by the 3.3's sound, I suggest you try to listen to Verity Audio's go with tweaked versions of these drivers. I know that the 8/5/1 Encore w/ reversible woofer may be out of your price-range (used-$8-9k), but if room placement works for the rear-firing Fidelio 7/5/.75, you may find a bargain as dealers might sell their demos in the $4-5k range. Please understand that room-matching will be much more critical with the Fidelio, and that the 3/4" tweeter isn't as open as the 28mm in the Encore. (WAF is MUCH better with the Verity, if that's a consideration). If your preferences weigh large-scale dynamics over midrange smoothness and coherence, then stick with the 3.3; but if you treasure electrostatic-like midrange quickness and honesty, you should check out the Fdelio. If you want both, listen to the Encores! Sorry to be so long-winded, but I spent a good amount of time on this path, and know the Encores are the ONLY items in my system I expect to NEVER replace! Happy hunting. Ernie