JM Lab Mezzo Utopia ?

Mezzo Utopias are great speakers, and you can't go wrong with them, that's for sure--but here's another suggestion, the Egglestonworks Andras, Stereophile Class A until last fall. They're small (about 40 inches high) but incredibly solidly made (205 lb. each), made to work best within a foot of the rear wall and 2 feet of the side walls, have astonishing deep and detailed bass (2 woofers, one mounted behind the other), a wonderful Dynaudio tweeter, and two transmission line-loaded midrange units. I had several tube traps in the room when I got them, and wound up removing them as not needed. Somehow they don't seem to excite room resonances the way my B& W's did. A warning however--they need a lot of power--250-400 watts a side--and sound their best with cable on the warm, full side--e.g. NBS Monitor or Cardas Golden Reference. They're about $15,000, but used run in the $ neighborhood you're exploring. Not only is the soundfront so wide it's startling at times, but they don't take up the whole room, a significant WAF factor. Oh, yes, they're also very attractive in a modern way--black acrylic and Italian granite. As to the Nautilus 801, I've never heard a pair which sounded comfortable in the room they were set up in, whether at a dealer or in a home (I found the upper midrange too aggressive each time,although they still did amazing things), and I understand that B & W is just about to introduce a new speaker, the 800, which everyone has gone nuts over. If you're thinking B& W, you might want to wait a few months to see what happens--a lot of discounted 801's, for example?

Bigboss, if you love bass extension, speed, and accurate pitch along with SOTA performance everywhere else, then you should listen to the Talon Audio Khorus's before making a purchasing decision.

Just re-read your second post, about needing something efficient, and the Andras certainly are not. But neither are the 801's, and when I heard the Mezzo Utopias, they were hooked up to giant Krell monoblocks, so I'm not sure they're too much better in that regard.

Dolphin is right, and the Talons are about 90.5 db efficient.
Regards,
Mike

the mezzos are 90-92 db (sorry i forgot which) efficient. i have a pair and absoultely love them. i bought them new a bit over a year ago for under $10k. i first powered them with a 45 wpc tube amp and shortly thereafter upgraded to 140 wpc tube mono's. they sounded good with the little amp but they absolutely sing with the mono's. i auditioned a number of speakers, including the eggy rosas and andreas. as between the andreas and the mezzos the decision was tough. i like the styling of both and the fact that the eggy's are made in the u.s. they were both quite analytical, but i would probably give the analytical edge to the eggys (the imaging and with of the soundstage was awesome). but, i was a bit concerned about the power required to run the eggy's (i knew that i was going to upgrade my power source, but was not sure when). more importantly (to me), the mezzo's mids are really fluid and incredibly realistic. the highs are crisp without sounding harsh or etchy and the bottom end, when powered well, is really tight. in short, i found them an overall more musical speaker--natural sounding, highly detailed, good imaging and soundstage and really, really fun to listen to. if you can find a deal they're well worth it. good luck.