Help with new speakers

I think the rotel 500w monoblocks were the weak link.

Gary, don't make a quick decision here. Make a well thought out game plan, and then wait a week. If its still the same game plan, move forward with it.

Those paradigms that you have are top notch speakers, in my oppinion. Totally different animals than paradigms studio series. I think there is alot of hidden potential with those speakers that you have not tapped into yet.

Give us a rundown of your complete rig. Room size, speaker placement, any room treatments ( diffusors, bass traps?), power conditioning, cables, source etc.

You sound like you have the same stores as I do. Are you in Colorado Springs? Interestingly, there are some very high end stores (if you can call them that) here that are in peoples homes and you would never know they were here unless you did some serious research and digging...

But again, those speakers sound absolutely fantastic, paired with the right equipment and set up properly.

If you tell us what city you're in, I bet someone here would come help you out with that...

Also, if you are trying to get 6k (?) for your speakers and you're looking at speakers that cost 10k-20k you have some money to throw at your rig. If you don't have some incredible components already like a wicked amp and pre amp, and a listening room with a lot of treatments, I'd do that.

And buy good equipment, used, at good prices and if you don't like it, you can easily get your money back...

I may be way off base here, and I don't know what components to recommend because I look at $1500 amps, not $5,000 amps, but it sounds like you aren't placing enough importance on the other pieces to the chain...

All really great responses guys, thank you... So my gear

Rotel rc1580 preamp
Rotel line conditioner
Peachtree dacitx
Audioquest columbia interconnects
Just sold my rotel rb1091 500 watt monoblocks
Audioquest rocket88 biwire speaker cables
Room WAS 10x12 with 3 kinetics accoustic panels and one accoustic innovations custom theater chair with electric recline and heat :)

The honest answer on why i want to replace the speakers is ive had them for a year and i want a new "toy".

The 4 3 way level adjustments on each of the big OHMs ($6500 pair list) provide 3^8 or 6561 different possible combos to help get them tuned into your room. That's a nice audio toy to play with. Sound great too. THe 500 w/ch Rotels would have been a nice match. :^)

Well Gary ... welcome to our crazy hobby. It's a merry-go-round from which you can't easily get off. Look, I'm not telling you *not* to flip the Tributes. I've been there and done it with lots of gear. Some flips worked out ok for me and other flips not so ok.

All I'm saying is that what the Tributes did to that other darling speaker brand was not pretty. And being a founding member of the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Amplifiers), I really felt badly for the other brand speaker. :(

Other members have advised folks about how to do system make-overs. So far the best advice I've read is to start with the speakers and match backwards. If you're close to any B&M stores, audition various speaker brands. Post your thoughts on A'gon. Even better, research other threads that may contain comments that are already posted.

Perhaps the best place to start even before doing all of that is tell us how much you want to drop on speakers. That will at least give the group an idea of the market niche you want to be in. Then, as I sugested, work backwards.

Last point, be mindful of speaker/amp electrical compatibility issues. The topic is complicated, but suffice to say, very important. One extreme example. I would not want to see you drop $10K on a top grade SET amp and then buy amp crushing speakers. That's when the SPCA is called in.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

Cheers.