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what speakers to buy

so this is my 1st time posting. the question is what speakers. i am going into this blind trying to put together a decent system on a budget. i live in a city where bose is considered the high end of high end and the nearest audiophile shops are hours away.
over the years i have owned a lot of vintage gear and still collect some of it. solid state and tube. some of the tube gear was marantz, macintosh, dynaco, heathkit, radio craftsmen, pilot etc. also the usual solid state marantz, pioneer, kenwood, adcom. speakers jbl, polk, altec (model 19 and vott), paradigm, klipsch, bozak, sansui, AR, advent. all the usual suspects
so far i have purchased a copland tube pre cta-305 and a pair of rogue audio m180 amps. all mint condition all under a year old for under half price of new. i also have a denon DP-60L TT 
(with sumiko pearl cartridge)
speaker budget is around 5000 give or take a 1000. if i'm patient i think i can find something that was originally in the 12-20k price range for what i want to spend.
so far i am leaning towards ew andra ii, dali euphonia 800, canton reference 3.2, revel studio ii. size is also a factor and all of these are within that limit.
i have a fairly large area open concept living /dinning and breakfast nook with high ceilings.
and i know "dont buy without listening" but not an option
so looking for some opinions/options

after speakers i will be getting tuner, cd and music server, current interconnects and speaker wire are all ZU mission


dragonbutx
Ag insider logo xs@2x
gdnrbob
2,421 posts
 
+1 for nycjlee
+1 for John Rutan. He sells both Vandy and Pro Ac and can give you great information. (His Agon ID is 'audioconnection').
Speakers are a personal decision, don't let anyone railroad you. If you can make some time to visit a dealer, I heartily recommend it.
Prior posters have given you a lot of choices, so I hope you can try to audition a few.
BTW, Zu makes some great speakers, at a great price. Since they have a trial period, why not get a pair? All you lose is the shipping should you not like them.
Bob
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
Sorry, but I don't think GoldenEar makes anything that comes close to the Focal Utopia line. I don't even think their lineup sounds better than the Focal 900 series, except for maybe their Reference. 
dragonbutx OP
11 posts
 
thanks for all the great responses. some answers to a few questions that were asked:

the room is aprox: 1100sqft with 11ft ceilings and not overly lively.

did not go crazy on cable (i do think they make a difference but at this point not sure its worth spending as much as the rest of the gear costs) - i have ZU MISSION speaker wire and  ZU MISSION rca interconnects

music is mostly hard rock and classic rock - pantera, avenged sevenfold disturbed, rush, ac/dc, judas priest, volbeat with a little bit of jazz, classical, mototown and pop thrown in depending on who is over

i now have some other speakers i had not looked at before though the focals seem to get the most love and i did have the focal 1038BE  on my short list. so what models focal & revels in the used 5-6k price range are best?

i want clean and clear, but dont need to hear the guys in the recording booth talking or every mistake on the recording - just want to enjoy the music- i love the dimensionality that tubes give.  the endless soundstage

someone mentioned being new to high end audio. i wouldnt say "new to high end" just new to the modern stuff.  i have a 3 car garage stuffed full of tubes, vintage speakers, amps and parts. well maybe not stuffed anymore since i have been selling it on that one site (am i allowed to mention that?)

anyways thanks for all the great help and ideas - i think i may do some posting in other categories. maybe about tube rolling?

thanks 




dragonbutx OP
11 posts
 
gotta add one more thing. the funny thing about this hobby is i can afford to spend more but i have to decide at which point i am willing to sleep on the couch or in the bed
inna
5,245 posts
 
We are talking about speakers, but your source should be excellent to experience what all those speakers are capable of. I don’t think your Denon with Sumiko cartridge and Rogue phono stage will cut it. Cables do not have to cost thousands but really good cables are not inexpensive, sometimes even used.
I like ProAc recommendation.
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