16K to Spend. Help me make the end all Upgrade.


Hi, I'm in the process of upgrading my speakers; Aerial 10t's. I need to upgrade the speakers for a couple of reasons, one being the waf. I'm looking to get the best 2ch stereo speakers out there for 15-17K. I'm currently looking at Revel Studio2s and Dynaudio Saphires (although I don't think they're physically attractive so waf would be a factor), also possibly interested in JM labs 1037be's. I really wanted to get people's opinions as to what else is out there, what's better or comparable to these speakers. I don't want to upgrade these speakers again so I'm looking for something to hold me over for a long time to come.
baraeryo
Avalon Indra has been favorably commented upon in the threads, and deserves a listen.
Now I'm debating as to whether to move up to the Salon2's; much better bass response than the Studios.
Check out the PBN Audio Montana KAS being sold by AudioGon memeber, Kenan. You can buy a demo pair from The Sound Station for $14,500. You won't be sorry.
Commenting upon some of the above items:

Generally, I would not spend all that money on speakers for a medium to small-size room that will also serve as a dining room. I would budget $10k for speakers and spend the rest on the other parts of your system.

Beauty is of course perceived by everyone differently, but I saw the EgglestonWorks The Nine last year at CES and thought they looked really sharp and was impressed with how compact they are (while still basically being a full-range speaker). I do not want to comment about the sound, as I heard them at a show. Audiogon member Talon4 is a dealer.

The Studio2 is appropriate for a room of your size -- as a former Salon owner, I cannot imagine a pair of Salon2's in an 11' x 19' room. I think the new Revels look like cheesey Canadian speakers, incidentally, but that's just my opinion.

I have not heard the Dynaudio Sapphires, but I have owned Dynaudios and found them to be superb speakers -- I have no doubt that the Sapphires are likewise superb and they will be impressive in the flesh, as they are very well built. Someone mentioned the C-2's and C-4's. The C-2's would be good for your room and are great speakers, but most people find the looks to be laughable (I'm one of them). In terms of bass performance, the Sapphires would be about as much speaker as you would want in a room that size.

The Aerial 9 will impress you with the quality of the cabinet finish (about as close to Sonus Faber as you will find) and they would likely work well in your room.

You will miss the smooth sound of your Pass amp, but as someone who ran high-powered monoblock tube amps for six years, I appreciate the concern about heat.
Alright guys, just auditioned the Revel Studio2s yesterday at my local dealer. He was running them with an all Burmeister setup, very expensive monoblock, amp, pre and cd player. Unfortunately for me he made me listen to the Nova Utopias (Focal) before the Revels. It wasn't even a close contest. The Revels sounded like Bose speakers compared to the Novas. Extremely 3 dimensional soundstage, strings vocals were much better on the Nova Utopia. I guess more money does buy you better sound. As I was walking out though with all my plans screwed I saw that he carried the 1037BE and asked him to hook those up just for fun. Nice speaker. Definitely from the same family as the Utopias. Obviously the bass wasn't as powerful as the Novas, the soundstage was also a little less 3 dimensional but everything else sounded great. Now I'm in a quandary. All along I was planning on getting the Studio2s now there is no way that I would.
Any other ideas as to speakers to audition in this price range. I'm raising the budget to a maximum of 20K.