Speakers to mate with McIntosh gear

For a Mac MC402, the Sonus Faber Cremona and Cremona Auditor are exceptionally synergistic. Also beautiful workmanship and visual design. The Cremonas are $8K per pair, and can be had used for your price range, and the smaller Cremona Auditors are right in your price slot with stands and will work beautifully in your space.

Also, Zu Druids, but you won't need all that power. However, it can't hurt either.

Phil

They are a little out of your price range, but Paradigms signature s8's are my current ownership experience. They are fantastic, the s4's are good if you listen to nothing with big bass, but the single woofer is somewhat overloaded

Markd51:
I'm with you on the JBL's. There's just nothing like that effortless sense of impact with those Alnico 4" voicecoiled 15" jobs. What I have found very helpful in taming the JBL's is using a fairly high quality 5 band fully parametric eq like the Phase Linear or Technics of the late 70's.

I also have the Mcintosh MC-402 and I have a MX-119 for a preamp/processor. I am using the Vienna Acoustics Mahlers for the fronts, Waltzs for the rear surround and a Maestro for the center. I am using three bridged channels of a Mcintosh MC-7106 for the center and surrounds at 320 wpc.

I do most of my listening as two channel and with the MC-402. I love my Vienna Acoustic Mahlers. They retail for $10k, but I was able to buy a mint pair at $3900. There are deals out there especially on this website.

A long time ago I did own a pair of JBL 4343 speakers, I loved them, and they were very special to me. I foolishly sold them when I went back to school, but they were nice. They were a very different speaker than the VA Mahlers though!

My wife will tolerate the Mahlers, but just barely! (They also sound a lot better in many ways!)

The JBL speakers are great and if I was able to rock out and was single I might be look for a pair, but I am at a different stage in life and am seeking something with a little more refinement that can still kick ass (bust discreetly of course!)

Another possibility is Revel´s F32 or F50, which you could easily find on the gon for your budget, and which both offer the richer sound you are craving for.