Best bookshelf speakers

My goodness, reading through this thread I don't think some of you are able to sleep at night without the security of knowing your speakers were designed by a bunch of dudes in white lab coats using a combination of Kevlar, berillyum, adamantium, Clark W. Griswold's experimental cooking spray polymers, and some kind of fish paralyzer.  

To the OP, I'd say buy used.  And if you can hear a pair of Trenner & Friedl bookshelf speakers (either Sun or Art), it would behoove you to do so.  An incredibly big and articulate sound in a small footprint.  

Whoopycats,

Who wants to buy products from amateurs? 

@twoleftears 

What massive advertising budget? I don't think I've ever seen a Focal or B&W ad in my whole life, though I think they have bought some print ads in the past. When I think of speaker companies with massive ad budgets I think Klipsch, JBL, Bose, and Legacy. Those guys dump piles of cash into Facebook and banner ads. Focal, for one, is rather well known for hardly having to advertise. Their products basically sell themselves and always have. Direct-to-consumer models depend entirely on aggressive advertising schemes. 

Kosst, your killin’ me. Pick up the latest Stereophile. Don’t even open it. Just flip it over and look at the lovely Focal ad on the back cover.

So let me get this straight... John DeVore is an amateur. As are Sean Casey, Keith Aschenbrenner, Andreas Friedl, and all the other amateur designers who have speakers on the Stereophile Recommended Components list just because they use sourced drivers and then design their own motor assemblies, doping, phase plugs, etc. Got it.

Perhaps we should petition John Atkinson to change the name of Stereophile to "DIY Audio Monthly"?

Kosst..."Direct to consumer models depend entirely on aggressive advertising schemes..." Far from it. The vast majority of ID speaker companies spend practically nothing on advertising, let alone ’aggressive’ advertising. Most rely solely on their set ups at CES’s, and word of mouth from very satisfied customers. Lots of these guy such as Salk, Fritz, Ascend Acoustics, Philharmonic Audio to name a few have been around for years because they offer great sounding, quality products at reasonable prices, offer personalized service, and have a rabid following of happy customers who upgrade within the brand.

Wilson Audio used Focal drivers for a long time. Dave Wilson obviously designed some very nice speakers. But when you get right down to it, his Focal driver designs didn't outperform the competitive Focal products going for less money. The Alexandria went for a cool $20,000 more than the FGU, didn't outperform them FGU, and certainly didn't look better than the FGU. 

And last I checked, DeVore, Wilson, and the like weren't selling factory direct. Buying incomplete drivers and completeing them is hardly the same thing as buying off the shelf drivers like Tekton does. John Atkinson would be the first to admit he's got nothing like the resources of Focal and B&W to measure speakers with. He's measuring those things out in an open field! 

As for print ads... Can't recall the last time I touched a print magazine. But Klipsch is all over the internet with banner and social media ads. Maybe you're unaware, but Jaques Mahul had to be convinced to sell the speakers he started building, and they quickly became a hot commodity. Focal never started off buying drivers. They started off making drivers. That company has exploded because of excellent business management, exceptional engineering, and products that earn very high praise consistently. All kinds of business sectors have followed that model. Honda pretty much did it the same way.