Not sure if your still looking, but for what it's worth about 2 months ago I was in the same situation. I was hooked by the sound of the Magnepan 1.6QRs which I actually preferred to the Aeon i's. To make sure I exhausted all possibilities I kept looking and covered lots of price points. I was finally able to hear the Von Schweikert VR2s and was very impressed.
About 6 weeks ago my dark cherry VR2s arrived. I simply have nothing bad to say about this speaker. Versus the Aeon i I think it is much more dynamic and gives up nothing in the top end air and detail that ML always gives.
