What do you consider the most musical speakers—$15000 & under

It's strange to me as RV is all about making a great sounding product that hits above it's price.  He even does that his 
Treo CT on up.  It's pretty amazing as I audition them all the time and I audition others all the time.  I honestly haven't heard anything twice the price that I personally would buy.  They are extended and not bright like so many others.  I would listen to a bunch of the speakers talked about here and see what you love.  They all have a different taste if you would, so it's important to hear them.  I have the Quatro and honestly, I may even get a pair of the Sub 9's.  I just like the ability to tune the bass to the room.  

15k is the 'sweet spot' IMO

my two favorite........

Revel Studio II

Martin Logan 13a

@hifiman5 ,

I am slack jawed by the Vandy 1cis. I ordered them online, expecting to likely return them because I'm used to $4K Spendors. I'm just amazed at what these Vandys can do for the price, and can't imagine how the 7s must sound.

Now I have the dilemma of deciding whether to step up to 2ce Sig IIs.

helomech, the performance range of audio systems is FAR greater than many realize. Experience in the home is often the only thing that can change that perception. The change which caused your  jaw to fail is a small part of a broad spectrum of performance change possible in the realm of systems.  :) 

I owned the 1B and 2CE in the past, and there is a nice bump in performance in the 2. Don't worry that you wouldn't hear a significant difference. 

The 7's are quite nice, but imo not inherently superior to many other super-speakers. YMMV 

You may wish to hang on to the Spendor speakers for a while, and conduct comparisons as time goes on. That would be informative. 

I agree that the upgrade to the 2's is a good size one.  Personally, the 2's is where Richards starts his magic in design.  It's the base of the Vandersteen first order crossover and time and phase correctness.  Yes, less smearing makes a huge difference in detail, size of stage and accuracy in general.  Not only that, it physically has larger cones and will move much more air than the 1's.  IF you can afford that upgrade, you will most probably love it.  JMHO.  Are you able to audition anywhere?  Sounds like you may not be able to.  

To me the upper line Vandersteen's best others in their price ranges. That's why I got the Treo and now the Quatro.  They subtly give you more detail than most of the other speakers.  Richard has learned where to make compromises in his products.  The bottom line is that any speaker regardless of cost has to make these decisions.  There are many flavors of speakers and it seems that most folks stay fairly true to their 'flavor'.  That's why if you like a line, you most probably will stay within that line. 

I've noticed that many companies tip up the treble 1-3 db (or more for a few) which gives an impression of larger sound stage and more sparkle to the speaker, but in fact that's not really what's happening.  I PERSONALLY can't handle products like that as I get fatigued quickly.  Unless we are in the production process we dont' know what is laid down on the tracks, so that makes it subjective.  

If you like the Vandersteen sound, then you will love each upgrade in his line.  As poster above said YMMV