Hi,
Based on your criterea, I think that there may be a speaker company that you should investigate that is very new to the high end scene. It is called AV Reality. The speaker model that I think may fit your criterea is called the Avinci "Studio".
I've been around the block, having owned most of the "recommended stuff", yet have never been as excitied with other speakers as I am about this particular company's speaker offerings.
Currently I own their smaller monitors, and am so impressed with their performance that I have placed an order for this $2000 Avinci "Studio" model also. This speaker has the same ultra high end drivers as the $9500 Krell LAT-2, except the AV Reality Studio has a much better crossover, serious diffraction control and unique tweaked drivers, for $7500 less than the Krell!
Below is a reprint of a recent posting that should explain why I'm so excited about this particluar speaker company.
Thread re-print (monitor recommendation):
I've owned most of the big name speakers at one time or another (Thiel, Magnepan, Avalon, Legacy, Spica and Proac). Although I enjoyed all of these different speakers, none has ever made me think that I got the deal of the century in terms of sound per dollar, based on what I paid for them.
Recently I acquired a pair of AV Reality Avinci One speakers based solely on the fact that their drivers were something you usually see in $3500+ monitors , not $1000, which is what they cost.
To say that I am overwhelmed by this little speaker is putting it mild. They are very integrated, they image as good as anything that has come my way, they have a very smooooth treble, and they have the lowest bass I've ever heard from a monitor speaker, bar none! Downsides? Their sensitivity is on the low side, requiring a bit of power to really rock. That's their only downside, in my opinion.
The designer of this speaker company has quite an interesting background in that he was a driver designer for a large speaker driver company (I think possibly Scan Speak). He has some obvious insights into the "little things" that makes first rate speaker drivers. Many of his speakers use modified versions of top of the line drivers from Vifa. (To me, it's like buying a seriously tweaked Ferrari directly from the head mechanic of the factory Ferrari race team.)
As an Electrical Engineer myself who has been deeply involved in high end audio for over twenty years, I still can't figure out how AV Reality can bring this level of speaker to market for $1000. The retail cost on the components alone is close to $800!
I strongly suggest that you consider this monitor before AV Reality gets wise, and realizes that they can charge 100% more for these speakers (and probably increase their sales too). It's funny (and unfortunate) how most audiophiles don't take a product seriously until it costs an arm and a leg, and has multi-thousand dollar ad campaign, (which of course, drives the product's price even higer).
