Best value speakers available

The Green Mountain Europa is the finest small speaker I have heard. It is honest, clean, and non-fatigueing. I own Maggie 20.1's, a planar speaker, but the Europa is the least box-like I know. They sound a whole lot better than they have any right to at the price (or for several times the price).

I owned Maggies for six years but unfortunately I had to part with them due to smaller size room in the new abode. The room I have is not big enough for the Maggies to breath in. I switched to the Paradigms Studio 40 v.2 but actually derive more pleasure from the circa 1978 Chartwell LS3/5a mated with the REL Strata III.

My answer to the question would be, LS3/5a (with or without the subwoofer) for smaller rooms and Maggies for larger rooms. If and when I move again and luck is on my side (larger room for system setup) I will go for the Maggies agian and nothing else. The model I would consider would be 1.6 or 3.6 (or newer offering at the time in same series). IMHO Maggies are the best bargain in the hifi business.

By the way, this thread can be split into two categories, one should list only new with mention of list price so there is a proper comparision between various brands and models. Value for money used speakers is a very vague term. I have heard stories of folks buying Mint LS3/5a's at garage sales for as low as US$5 (five) from old ladies who thought their husbands got them with the secondhand $200 computers. The person who bought them knew what he was buying, certainly a mint LS3/5a for a fiver cannot be beaten when it comes to "value for money"

I also will applaud the Green Mountain Audio Europas. I congratulate Roy for finding a way to produce these speakers at this retail price point. It is a tribute to great design and smart production that he can do this. It raises the bar for other speaker manufacturers out there. The cast marble enclosure not only provides significantly better performance from a sound perspective, but also allows for an extremely competitive price point. I for one am thrilled that great audio can be had for less than a fortune. It is products like this that can reach a significantly larger audience and turn more people on to the joys of great sounding audio.

Coincident speakers are my favorites (I have the Partial Eclipse). Israel Blume is a genius when it comes to loudspeaker design.

One way of looking at speaker value is how it contributes to the sound quality of the playback system as a whole. I believe that the source and amplifier contribute more to overall sound quality than the speakers do, so at any given system price point, at least to some extent, the cheaper the speaker, the better the sound.

I've always liked the value offered by the formerly ubiquitous 8 inch, two-way, acoustic suspension bookshelf speaker (Linn Index, original Klipsch KG2, AR 18, etc.). Large enough to move some air, with a good source and amplifier, this type of speaker can make satisfying music. Being broke after buying an LP12/Basik Plus/Basik/Naim Nait setup, I used some cheap Jensen's borrowed from my older brother for several months, and even they sounded great. I'm still enjoying the 8 inch, two-way in the form of Linn Saras.