Best speakers for 2500....thump included

There are really a relatively small number of speakers which even bother to reproduce a legitimate 30 hz signal at any price. This job seems to be left to subwoofers for the most part nowadays. In your price range, there are the Vandersteen 3, 3A and 3A Signature. These are all excellent speakers which will deliver in the deep bass region provided that your amplifier can provide the current. Also would be interested to hear the Gershman RX-20 Avant Garde which I hear is quite small and yet can plumb the depths. Be careful of the recommendations of others, since I have noticed that many people don't have any idea of how a 30hz tone sounds. Ninety percent of the speakers out there don't have it.

Sorry, I forgot to say that the Gershman is $4400 list, so you would have to consider it used to meet your budget. The Vandersteen 3 is discontinued, but a mint pair is available easily for $1300. The 3A lists for $2595 and the 3A Signature retails for $3495 but is available used for less than $2500. As this is an interesting topic, I would like to know of any other candidates and what others think of the Gershmans as an overall speaker as well as the quality of the bass reproduction.

It is interesting to see all of the recommendations which include subwoofers. My understanding of the question was that Shabbadoo was looking for full range speakers which deliver bass to 30 hz. Wouldn't this eliminate subwoofers from consideration? Shabba... , please speak up if I have misunderstood the question.

The Hales Revelation 3 is an example of a speaker which cannot produce a 30hz tone. It is typical of many speakers today which "pretend" through their specifications that they can but when put to the test, clearly cannot. A 30hz tone is more felt than heard. It should set things vibrating in the room, like the windows and the floors, if reproduced with authority. If you put on the second track of Sarah Mc Lachlan's "Surfacing" CD on a Vandersteen and then the Hales Rev 3, you will hear the difference. Only one of these speakers will produce a true 30hz tone and afterwards you will know which one. Also the Hales has a rather peaky, harsh upper midrange region. Not a bad speaker for the money, but one with at least one obvious flaw and one which, despite advertising claims, is not full range. Of course, I could say the same thing about other speakers recommended here for their low frequency capability like B &W (all speakers except possibly the 801 don't have the ability to reproduce deep bass). Some of the biggest lies in audio are told in the advertising of speakers frequency response capabilities.

Hi Laker, I am not a Vandersteen dealer, but I did audition it and the Hales in pursuit of speakers in this price range. If you A/B both with the right music, which is hard to find, you will hear the difference in the low end. As I said earlier, the Hales is a good speaker particularly when you consider its rock bottom price, but it certainly doesn't deliver close to an ultimate bottom end, nor are the upper mids as smooth as one would like. If you should decide to audition, take along the CD I recommended and be sure to listen with a high current solid state amp like Pass, Krell, Levinson, Plinius etc. After auditioning both speakers, then tell me that that 30hz note on the Hales "feels" good!