Best value speakers available

Tireguy, I think subjectivity is going to play a big role in this judgement call. But when it came time to put MY money down, Magneplanar got my vote for best value (in my budget range) and I bought the 1.6's.

No doubt Photon46 is right about subjectivity, but that is what this is about. My vote goes to Vandersteen; you pay for the parts you do not see, not that "matched veneer" on the outside of the box, Vandersteens will betters most at 2 times their price. Just my 2-cents.

I haven't owned a pair of Maggies for a long time (switched over to Martin Logans, and haven't been disappointed). However, if the sole criterion is value, not absolute sound quality, the Magnepan SMGs ("Baby Maggies") are very hard to beat. They have given me the chance to help a bunch of friends buy into good sound over the years when their budgets were not in Bill Gates mode. Short of a headphone-based system, its hard to do better when bucks are tight.

For least amount of cash spent, I'll go with B&W. Abstract I think they can be had for around $600 and they do sound very sweet. I love My Martin aerius i and will eventually buy the cls2. But if I had the cash I would buy the varsity parsifals and put my martins in another room to do the ht thing. I heard the parsifals with a big balls tube amp and was ready to sell my truck for the combo, good thing the wife had the keys and restrained me.

The Harbeth Compact 7ES, around $2000 or so new maybe a little more. Does everything a speaker can do except low bass. Uncannily clear midrange, smooth top end, solid bass, just a little dry, and the most realistic micro and macro dynamics you can imagine. Nothing under $5,000 comes close. The, the Harbeth Monitor 40 at $6500-7000 or so, also qualifies as a best buy from everything Ive heard about it, but I havent heard it.