Vote for the best speakers in 10K range

KThomas- I am currently running a pair of Confidence 5s and couldn't be happier. In my room (25'x19'), I don't find the bass to be lacking at all. The 5s are much more "analytical" than the 3.3s. This means that the 5s will more readily show deficiencies in the rest of the system. I also find that the 5s do voices better than any speaker to which I've listened. Matched up with great electronics, they are, IMHO, the best at $10k. As for discounted pricing, it's to the buyer's advantage.

Metaphysics - thanks for sharing your experience. I find it hard to believe that the 5's are some sort of lemon, especially coming from Dynaudio, but I guess it wouldn't be un-precedented. In any case, they'd be my first inclination for upgrading my 3.0's based solely on price and manufacturer. And, I agree wholeheartedly that the discounted pricing is to the buyer's advantage - I always like a great deal!

Rayhall, Be careful if you demo a set of Vandersteen 5's. You cannot use a Pass Aleph amp with their balanced crossover. You could damage the speaker if you do. Apparently the Van 5 balanced crossover needs matching values for pos and neg legs. Most amps are this way, but the alephs are not. I talked to a pass labs tech, and he said he could modify the vand hipass filters for around $50. They just have to change capacitors to compensate. I'm using my vt100 to drive them now.

I am looking for speaker cables to use with mine. My red dawns bananas won't fit and I need to biwire. What speaker cables have you or others seen the Vandersteen 5 demoed with ?

Make that their (vandersteens) 'balanced hi pass filter'. They do make a single ended version too.

Snook2: As I stated earlier, I cannot personally vouch for the Soundlabs, but I offer them as one a prospective buyer should listen to, before buying in the 10K price range. I make this statement based on the opinions of people I respect, and with whom I have had a high degree of agreement in the past on what sounds right. You may not agree with my assessment of B&W, Dunlavy, Martin Logan etc., and that is your right to do so, but I think those speakers are lacking in one way or another-more so than the Vandersteens. John_l: Thanks for the heads-up. Although, I wasn't considering Vandersteen 5's for the Aleph, that is a possibility in the distant future. I have heard them with Nordost SPM speaker cables. I don't remember the interconnects. The CD player was a Wadia 860.