help narrowing down my list of speakers, $2500


Hi, I will be buying some speakers shortly. I will have them paired with an Odyssey dual mono amp (plenty of power), Tempest (Odyssey) preamp, Ridge Street Audio interconnects and speaker cable, and an Audio Aero Prima cd player. Also I will be adding a sub soon, so bass shouldent be the deciding factor here. I have a small room (12' x 12') and my budget is $2500. I went to listen to some B&W's at the dealer and like what I heard from the Naut. 804's. Wide soundstage, clear, detailed, musical. Im looking for speakers like that. I usually listen to rock (old and new) so I want speakers that can handel that. My choices so far are:
-Dynaudio
-Vandersteen
-Avalon
-Totem
-Sonus Faber
-Aerial Acoustics
-Dali
-Merlin
-Silverline
-Vienna
-Spendor
-Tyler Acoustics
-B&W
-PMC OB-1

Any you think I should add to that list? Suggestions on what to take off? Thanks

-Jamie
jamiec001
Of your listed brands so far, my personal favorite would be Totems. However, in that price range, with a bit of negotiating, you should be able to get some really good offerings from either Thiel or ProAc, both of which do a good job on rock (and pretty much everything else), IMHO.

One other consideration that would save you some money would be NHT ST-4's. They retail for about $1,000, but I was extremely impressed with them, and it is my belief that they best many speakers in the $2,500 price range. I certainly prefer them to B&W's, but then again, I have never really been a fan of B&W's (as you can probably tell, given that I like Thiel, ProAc, Totem, and NHT).

On the used market, a pair of Thiel CS3.6's make for one heck of a bargain. That's what I have in my system. I drive them with a pair of amps costing about four times what I paid for the speakers (Theta Enterprises), and to my ears, the 3.6's are worthy of just about any gear you would put upstream of them. Of course, 3.6's in a 12 x 12 room... probably not a good idea. 2.4's might be awefully nice, though.
Yep, Boa2 wasn' sure about the Silverlines. I know I had the SR17's at the top of my list when looking for a bookshelf. If I hadn't got such a good deal on the FS688's I'd probably have the SR17's now.

I know the SR17s can do Bach or Rock. The name "Sonata II" and some of the other names SL uses on their floorstanders, made me wonder if they wern't maybe voiced different.

I agree if you are going to get floorstanders in a 12x12 room, why not get something that goes deep enough and eliminate the sub.

Best Wishes Maxx
I was in your situaiton and I was considering many in your list... I might settle with JM Lab this time.

This is widening your choice rather than narrowing down but,
You might want to consider Soliloquys and Von Schweikerts

Von Schweikerts Jr4 can be pick up at pretty good price these days!
Ok, so, I can get a floorstander with a lot of bass and not need a subwoofer, a floorstander that focuses on mids and highs and is 2-way, like the Tyler Acoustics Taylo, or monitors and a sub. I hear Vandersteen can rock?? so I am keeping it on the list, heres what im down\up to
-Dynaudio
-Avalon
-Focus
-Totem
-Vandersteen
-Aerial Acoustics
-Dali -1
-Soliloquy
-Merlin
-Theil
-Gallo Refrence
-ATC
-Silverline
-Von Schweikert
-Tyler Acoustics
-B&W
-Reynaud
-PMC OB-1
Merlin VSM-M I can afford, and have upgraded to VSM-MM. Any I actually added more to the list, I need to know what to take off.........Any companies better than others?