Best speakers for classical music 2k ?

You should listen to Paulwp. The Harbeth C7 ES I have is pure, pure, pure. Signal will fix you up. Have fun.

For classical listen to the Spendor 1/2 or 2/3. 1/2s occasionally show up on this site for $1200-$1600 with stands. 2/3s should be $900-$1200 on this site.

For $5,000, I would guess that Alastair Gardner (Signals) at www.signals.demon.co.uk (get his email address and phone number and lots of information about speakers and components he carries) can put together a very good system for you including a pair of world-class Harbeth Compact 7 speakers.

His store is in Suffolk, a bit of a drive maybe, but well worth the time.

"There", again.

I owned a pair of Castle Acoustics Isis speakers that worked very well with classical music (I preferred them to my old Rogers Ls3/5a's). They are UK based and you may want to check out their larger floorstanding speakers. Their is such a model reviewed (highly rated) at the HiFi Choice website that retails for only $800US. They have more expensive models as well. Both their US distributor and Castle (UK) themselves were a pleasure to deal with on several occasions. Linn also has a new line out.

In London or anywhere in the UK, go to Richer Sounds. They have several locations in London alone. The owner Julian Richer is a major player in Cambridge Audio. The Cambridge Audio D500SE is a very nice CD player for classical, and is cheaper Richer because no middleman distributor; probably about 200 British Pounds (List is $450US). B&W Speakers are great for classical. $2000 will get you a pair of floorstanding CDM-7NT, but for classical, I would probably opt a pair of the bookshelf CDM-1NT ($1200US) and get a pair of very very very good stands. The Nautilus 805 is $2000 new. You could get a used pair and once again get some very good stands like the Sound Anchors. Since we are shopping in the UK, for an amp take a look at one of the higher powered Creek integrated amps or Musical Fidelity.

best speakers in this price are the biro L/1. new about $1500, unbelievable imaging and clarity. our group has audiotned many and this is THE best speaker under $5000 BAR NONE! add a van alstine amp tube or solid state whatever your preference and this makes the best budget rear end in the businiess. this combo would also leave you $2500 for a front end. best wishes on your qwest.

For "classical" one kind of speakers will always outperform dynamic speakers, and that is HORN design! Check Edrgarhorns, Beauhorns or even Carfrae. I am not sure if it was last issue of Hi-Fi+, there is a extensive review on Edgarhorn Virtuosy. Good Luck!

For speakers PMC TB-1 or Dynaudio Contour 1.3 $1000-1500

For CD Musical Fidelity A3cd $800-1000

For power: Musical Fidelity A300 Integrated Amp $1200-1500 (they make separates, which I recommend over the integrated, but it will double your cost)

If you want floorstanding speakers go for the Dynaudio 1.8. I think all of this stuff except Dynaudio is manufactured in the UK. You can probably find all of it used on this site somewhere and save yourself about a thousand. However, I recommend you listen to as many brands and combinations as possible before you buy.