Beryllium Tweeters

You could look for a pair of 2nd hand classic Yamaha NS-2000 speakers which use a Beryllium tweeter. I'm feeding a bit higher up the food chain & own a pair of Magico S5's which employ an excellent Beryllium dome.

01-10-15: Johnk
92db is not high efficiency

Yes, that's true John. But a speaker's sensitivity is only part of the story. John Atkinson provided this neat summation in his Stereophile review of the original De Capo's -

"The MM de Capo i's voltage sensitivity was above average, at an estimated 91dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is slightly but inconsequentially less than specified. Its impedance (fig.1) was reasonably benign, dropping below 6 ohms only in the lower midrange and the high treble. (The speaker is thus both sensitive and efficient.) The minimum value was 5.1 ohms at 10kHz, and the electrical phase angle was generally mild."

01-09-15: Rebbi
The Reference 3A line now uses BE tweeters across the range. I have the De Capo BE's, but the Dulcet BE's would fall into your price range and they're marvelous.

Although the classic Yamaha speakers I mentioned are capable of terrific sound paired with smooth, tube-like or tubed amps they might prove a bit bright paired with some ss amps and front ends. Having spent the afternoon researching good value BE speakers, i'm in agreeance with Rebbi on this one, the Reference 3A MM De Capo BE monitors are a steal. You could pick up a mint near new pair 2nd hand within your price range. Their already good bass can be augmented by investing in a good pair of stands such as Sound Anchors or Taoc. And their high efficiency means you can also use a wide range of tube amps including SET's. I might even pick up a pair one day for a desktop setup in my study. Count me impressed!

B limo, If you are prepared to look beyond BE dome tweeters, I would also consider a 2nd hand pair of Penaudio Cenya monitors which sound natural, resolving and musical. They also happen to look beautiful. Their size is also suitable for high end desktop setups. I've got my eye on a pair of Cenya Signatures. The Cenya Sig's are more comparable in size to the Ref 3A Dulcets, therefore giving you the flexibility to switch between your desktop setup and a pair of stands which could be fun!

01-09-15: Runnin
Speaker cable matters a lot at this level of quality, as do interconnects. I got all solid core, and it is much nicer/cleaner than fine strand. The difference here to my speaker cables was immediate and not subtle. It wasn't that I could tell that something was wrong and went on a cable search. I just experimented and discovered how good solid core is.

Same with interconnects. I ended up with solid core copper plated with silver by Morrow Audio. I can recommend without reservation. Imaging like crazy and a 3D soundstage I never knew my music had. My cables are MA3, and the speaker cable is Audioquest Type 4.

I also owned a full loom of solid core cables (Acoustic Revive) which use extremely pure oval-shaped copper conductors instead of plated copper. Using solid core conductors is one way to address skin effect amongst other design challenges, but there are other solutions which have equal merit.

I currently use Jorma Prime & Statement cables which use many extremely thin and extremely pure copper conductors wound exactly in parallel with ceramic glass fibres around a ceramic glass fibre core to form a tube, together with other natural materials like walnut. Jorma experimented with many other materials as well as copper alloys, but found copper delivers the most neutral, transparent, and natural musical signal.

Mind you what what Jorma or I might find sounds good may not be your cup of tea or suit your system. That's why there are a million cables out there to choose from!

Thanks for sharing that info Rebbi. Very interesting!