Road trip to demo $10,000 speakers


I'm going to take a several hour road trip to the Washington DC/Baltimore area to demo some speakers in the $10,000 range for a once in a lifetime purchase. I plan on listening to some Magico A3's, Aerial Acoustic 7T's, and Spendor D-9's. One of the dealers also has Paradigm Persona 3F's on the floor, so I'll take a listen to them too. While I'm up there are there any other speakers in that price range you'd recommend I try to locate and take a listen to. I'm open to and welcome your suggestions and will take the time to research each one as well.

I'm not in the market for used equipment. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Mike



skyscraper

It may seem like a simple, obvious suggestion but: don’t forget to bring a lot of music that you actually listen to. I think it’s tempting for us audiophiles when grabbing music to audition a system to gravitate to the really good recordings/audiophile stuff because we want to see just how good/realistic the system can sound. But are those discs really making up the bulk of your listening?

I learned long ago to bring everything I listen to, from crap to great, to see how the speaker works with the music that I truly love and want to play. The sort of "would I play this in the car" is a sort of marker for the music I want to play just because it’s the music I like, vs sheer sound quality.
if this truly a 'once in a lifetime' purchase....can you squeeze a few more thousand?
i truly  l o v e  the B&W 803
additionally....the Focal Sopra 2 is tuffff to beat.

as mentioned above,  Soundscape in Bmore.
see Ed or his son Justin....
@Skyscraper Please give your impressions after you hear the speakers...I would love to hear your impressions of Aerial 7ts.
I can confirm that Command Performance AV just got the Magico A3 and you can demo it there in their showroom. At Command you can also demo Focal Kanta and Devore (among others)

Visit Evolution AV or IQ to demo the Revel F228Be. Both shops have it available for demo in their showrooms 
If you can find a pair of the Bryston Model T’s to audition, do it before you buy anything. Most people who have listened to them say that nothing under $25K will touch their performance.
I personally had a pair of Bryston Middle T’s for three months, then found a great deal on a used pair of Model T’s which I purchased. I didn’t think anything would be much better than the Middle T’s which are around $6K, however it was worth trying out. But when I set up the Model T’s next to them; I knew within 30 seconds that the Middle T’s were being moved out. Same exact sound and performance characteristics, however the T’s are a massive increase in dynamic output and filled the room like nothing I have experienced.

The bass is just outstanding as is all the other ranges.   Since I have a 10,000 cubic foot space, I wanted to make it even more dynamic; so I had Axiom Audio build me an EP800 dual 12 inch driver sub with a custom designed dual range (switchable 6 db boost in the middle upper mid-bass) and an EP500 single 12 driver sub.  I placed the two subs in null areas of the room (18 foot high vaulted ceiling with a mezzanine level balcony over one side of the room, meaning it is tricky) and all I can say is yes, this is it.   Axiom by the way builds Bryston speakers for Bryston.

The room sounds like a live concert hall with amazing dynamic power.