Best speaker in the US $ 30-45.000,00 range

For the money, you need an in home demo. All specs, dealer listening will not tell you which is best for your home.

Also, add to your list the JBL Everest series.

I second Buconeros advice. Also dont forget about the Wilson Sophia 3's just because of their lower pice tag...they are worth a listen.

Yeah, get them all into your house at the same time and have those guys run around with different cables, amplifiers and other damn things. But maybe you'll have to increase it a little to,say,$50k.

If I had that much money,I wouldn't be asking people on an audio forum how to spend it.But hey,that's just me!!

Since you are considering Verity, I strongly suggest the $30K Verity Amadis instead of the $16K Verity Leonore. I have heard them both and although the Leonore are very good, the Amadis are incredible. Other than the Shindo Latours, the Amadis are the first pair of multi-driver speakers that I prefer over my Silverbacks. The Shindo Latours are still the best speaker I have ever heard, but they recently went up to $55K a pair and are well above your stated price range limit. Mine too, unfortunately.

He is not asking how to spend his money.
Well, I was close - you may need to increase it to $55k.

If you have heard the Magico V3 and like it, I would consider holding out for the new Magico Q3 which will be launched in January. But I agree with what others have said. Listen to all of these at dealers and narrow the list. Then listen to the top 3 or 4 in your listening room to know for sure which is best for you.

Consider the new Vandersteen Model 7, the Magnepan 20.1 supplemented by one or two JL subwoofers according to your room and budget.

Finally, before you spend that kind of coin, give a listen to the B&W 802D, relatively cheap at $15K a pair, but competitive in that price range.

I have heard all of these speakers. My personal favorite is the Magnepan 20.1 + JL subs, but that's anything but a petite setup.

I also am partial to Sonus Faber. Excellent tonal balance and always musical presentation with a deceptively high level of detail that's never irritating.

For 30-45K they better be pretty good, very close to SOTA, if not do not be afraid to walk and it does not matter what kind of music you listen to at that price point, this should not be an issue, stay away from the right for the "moment" stuff, good speakers will reproduce what is in the recording with no issues, throw all that you can at them and dont be afraid to buy used.

You can get SOTA sound when buying used at that price for sure.

regards,

In this economy, you are very fortunate my friend and blessed.
Happy Holidays.

Given soley in the spirit of Christmas and in hopes santa is real.... may i offer this suggestion. Buy the Wilson sophias at $16,700 (i believe) and then to fulfill my dreams, and convince me that Santa is real buy me a pair of Magnepan 20.1 at $12,000.If my math is correct u will still have some change to give the bell ringers...think of the karma

TAD speakers. Audio Video Logic (Des Moine, IA) just picked them up. They're right up there with the best.

Instead of Wilson sasha , new, would pre owned Wilson maxx 3 be a better choice ?

In that price range the best speakers are without a doubt Verity, or Wilson, or maybe Vandersteen, perhaps Magico or YG, I'm thinking Focal, wait maybe ..................

German Physiks?

I would add the new Magico Q3.

What happened? Does this mean Tidal is no longer the unequivocal choice?

Two that have not been mentioned are

Zu's new speaker called "Dominance."

A doubled set of Coincident Pure Reference Extreme

Although I've not lived with them, the Wilson Sashas bowl me over in terms of their sonic attributes, have little in the way of peers in terms of fit and finish (I'll leave out aesthetics, being so subjective, though I really am crazy for them in that area as well), and (surprisingly) beat most of the midline reference speakers on price. My experience is they are also more inclusive of their partnering amplification than previous Wilson offerings.

If I was going to spend more than $15K on a pair of speakers, I've not heard anything that has impressed me as much as the Sashas. And, this is coming from a guy who was not much of a WATT/Puppy fan.

I concur with Trelja - the Sashas are a good choice if you like precise sound - an exception in the Wilson line, which is normally colored by a house sound that leans towards heavier resonant bass (especially in the WP line). Frankly, the others would not make my shortlist but my taste (in the minority) is not towards laid back mids and an emphasis on bass.

The OP doesn't say why he's dissatisfied with his current Consensus speaker or what he is trying to achieve with this change, doesn't say whether the new speaker will be used in his current system and doesn't say anything about his room. All he gives is a list of speakers that span wide across the audiophile spectrum. Yet, with this paucity of info everybody has an opinion.

i'd recommend auditioning the Evolution Acoustics MM3's. they do list for $3000 over the top level ($45k) of your budget at $48k. to my ears they perform at a level equal or better to any other $100k+ speaker. don't discount them because they don't have a high enough list price.

the MM3's are happy in my quite large (29' x 21' x 11') room and easily work in medium to small rooms too since their bass is very adustable to any room. they use the Accouton ceramic mid-range and an Arum Cantus ribbon tweeter which perfectly blend and they don't have that 'tipped up' brightness i find in many speakers. they combine transparency and the body and fullness of the music where many speakers do one or the other. there is no replacement for the displacement of 2 15" subs per side that fully integrate. they use a sealed box for the subs to get that articulation yet since they are powered you are not paying the price with an in-efficient speaker.

with a 93db 6ohm load you open yourself up to using very modestly powered (read transparent and natural sounding) amplifiers including 10-20 watt SET's. i recently had a pair of 18 watt Lamm ML2.1's in my room and they worked great. yet they sounded great with the darTZeel 400 watt monoblocks too. currently i use the darTZeel 100 watt stereo NHB-108.....which works perfectly for my very large room.

find someone close to you who has these and go listen; or come here and listen. for under $50k they are crazy good.

How about a used pair of Rockport Antares. Should come in a bit less than 30K. Of course the hard part would be getting someone to part with their pair. I find it amazing that in the last 4 + years, not one pair used on the Gon.

I find it amazing that in the last 4 + years, not one pair used on the Gon.

I wonder how many pairs there are extant.

Have you listened to SoundLabs? For that price you could get speakers and the correct amps too and have some cash left for a vacation trip around the world. :)

any of them, just PLEASE do home audition.even if it seems painfull. it will pay-off believe me.

Buy USED! Allow someone else take the depreciation hit on the new gear. Most guys that buy high end gear baby it anyway, so you can look at it as receiving a substantial savings for allowing someone else to break in your gear.

When you have two experienced audio veterans like Trelja and Shadorne agreeing, listen....

These truly are the real deal...look here

45K one must expect SOTA type performance, stay away from speakers with limited mid/twt drivers, dynamic compression will be the order of the day .

regards,

What happened? Does this mean Tidal is no longer the unequivocal choice?

lol. Yeah, I thought that had been definitively established.

J

I recently heard the Vandersteen 7. IMHO, it's a must audition if you are spending that kind of money on speakers.

Coincident pure reference extreemes!!!!

If you love guitar, get the zu soul superfly and don't look back. Put the 43k you save into some really good cables.

Tidal Piano Diacera and Tidal Contriva Diacera define quite well the lower and upper end of your price bracket in Germany (at present exchange rates). Since you live in Germany, do yourself the favour of a visit in Hürth or Kronberg (at Transparent Acoustic) or organize an audition in your system straight away.

For information - even if I can feel the next sneer coming my way - the very first Tidal review in a German magazine has just been published on the Piano Diacera in Hifi & Records 1/2011. The remarkable thing about this? Leaf through the magazine: not one cent for advertising had to change hands.

I need a sugar-momma.

All these responses and no mention of the type of amplifier used, which is something that should be considered carefully with any speaker in this category.

My vote would be for the Classic Audio Loudspeaker model T-1.3. I would get it equipped with the field-coil midrange and tweeter at the very least. These drivers have no breakups in the audio range (true beryllium domes) and have all the speed and transparency of the best electrostatics. They are easy to drive and capable of real-world sound pressures (somewhat room dependent- the speaker is 98 db 1 watt/1 meter) with 20Hz bandwidth.

Ralph wrote;

All these responses and no mention of the type of amplifier used, which is something that should be considered carefully with any speaker in this category.

you must have missed my post above where i specifically wrote about amplifier flexibility with the MM3's....

with a 93db 6ohm load you open yourself up to using very modestly powered (read transparent and natural sounding) amplifiers including 10-20 watt SET's. i recently had a pair of 18 watt Lamm ML2.1's in my room and they worked great. yet they sounded great with the darTZeel 400 watt monoblocks too. currently i use the darTZeel 100 watt stereo NHB-108.....which works perfectly for my very large room.

i consider having the ability to use modestly powered amps to be a big deal. most (not all) great sounding amps are either modestly powered or load sensitive to some degree.

Frank the OP gave a shortlist - how did this get so far off topic - oh of course this is Audiogon and we always go off topic!

Frank,

I would second MikeL's response. 100%
During my room build I searched for 3 years to do a speaker upgrade. I auditioned the Wilson Line, listened to the Verity, Sonus Faber, Revel, Rockport & many many others. They were all very very good speakers but they just didn't push me over the top to make a purchase for one reason or other. Yes, room interaction & equipment plays a serious roll in these decisions.

Once I auditioned the Evolution speakers, I wasn't in the room for a half an hour I knew I was going to purchase them.
They just were so musical to my ears & so well balanced.
I would recommend a audition of the MM3's you will not be disappointed.

Also as mentioned in a previous post above... mate with the darTZeel combo with excellent synergy. I was so blown away I sold all my gear & purchased the darTZeel amp & pre & have not looked back.

My best advice is to look & audition as many as you can & make a solid educated decision. There are many good speakers in your price range. Some are just what I call Overpriced... period....for what your getting in return.

Bose 901 series 6 after you put these EVS ground enhancers tweak on the 901's !! WOW !!http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=87635.0

Sorry, I gave you the wrong link for the EVS ground enhancers above... http://www.tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/EVS_Ground_Enhancers.html

Hi Mike, Thanks for pointing that out.

After the review in Abso!ute Sound a few months ago, I wouldn't buy anything in that price range without auditioning the Pioneer TAD-CR1 Compact Reference, at about $36K. Make sure to leave budget for their dedicated stands, as the spkrs weigh 100 lbs each.

I haven't heard 'em, but the review sure sounds enticing. I get the impression that these have the speed to keep up with the electronics driving them. With a frequency response out to 100 KHz, their rise time should outpace just about every other speaker out there.

12-23-10: Johnnyb53
After the review in Abso!ute Sound a few months ago, I wouldn't buy anything in that price range without auditioning the Pioneer TAD-CR1 Compact Reference, at about $36K. Make sure to leave budget for their dedicated stands, as the spkrs weigh 100 lbs each.

I haven't heard 'em, but the review sure sounds enticing. I get the impression that these have the speed to keep up with the electronics driving them. With a frequency response out to 100 KHz, their rise time should outpace just about every other speaker out there.

Finally, someone familiar with TAD. My local dealer, Audio Video Logic (an A-Gon member) just picked up TAD. I got to spend some time listening to the big TAD Reference One's and oh my Gawd, these are the real deal in every way. If I had the cash and the space, these are the speakers. AVL also just picked up the $60,000 JBL Everest's and I much prefer the TAD Reference Ones's (although the Everest's absolutely take control of anything you throw at them).

Before you go with Magico, or any others, check out TAD...

Your list is a good one. Audition them all and see what floats your boat. Try and find a home audition or a dealer that carries multiple models you want

Avalon Time, demo pair may be available at AudioFreaks in UK.

36K for mini monitors(TAD CR1) and the stands are optional, absurd indeed.

At 36K+ for the TAD CR1 mini monitors, the Magico Q3 is worth a look waaaaaaay before IMO.