If you had to narrow your choices to 4 - 5 speakers

Make sure you check out the DIY room!! It’s 480 I believe. You would be shocked at how good these designs can be (Jim Salk is basically a DIYer turned business man!). Better materials, components and more time spent voicing to achieve the desired outcome. 

My choices:

Raidho, X2 and up

Wilson Audio, Sabrina X or used Sophia, Sasha

Focal (if you like more forward sound)

QLN

Definitely stop by the PranaFidelity room.  The new Dhara’s are pretty dang good. PF’s owner, Steven Norber, is a great guy. Easy to talk to and a wealth of knowledge. You won’t be disappointed.  

Nola champs s3.  

Borresen X3

PS Audio FR20

Vandersteen

Sonus Faber

Magnepan

And if you don’t like the sound of any of these speakers, just look for a used Thiel 3.7 or 2.7 at a bargain price.

Verity Otello

DeVore O/96

Wilson Sasha

Rockport

No Acoustic Zen fans here?

Now you have a list of every speaker at Axpona, and probably some speakers that you can't find at the show.

I could never live without Martin Logan’s. An absolute must!

If Verity Audio is there they are a must hear. 

@bobag

I am really sorry to hear about your dilemma. I saw your post from 2019 looking for speakers. I guess I’m a youngster at 70, but I would not be wasting time and doing nothing. I would schedule a trip to a city or two and hit several dealers (well reviewed) that represent half dozen of the highest respected brands… I showed what I think those are. Time is going by, tick tock. My system is one of the great delights of my life / retirement. I enjoy it so much. If you can afford $30K speakers you certainly deserve them and should be able to find some great ones for that price.

There are a lot of amazing speakers in your price category. I would just go try and listen to speakers until you emotionally connect with a brand. They have a house sound… then buy the one of appropriate scale and price. For speakers of this cost you can certainly justify some travel.

Spendor Classic 4/5

Spendor Classic 1/2

Thiel CS1.5

Klipsch Cornwall I-IV

Spendor Classic 4/5

:)

@soix Don't see Verity Audio on the list. 

magnepan LRS+ w/sub, halford loudspeakers precisa, the JBL L150 i have, voice of music (a5, a7 not sure), quad ESL (dunno which). 

Don’t underestimate the Perlisten S7t. Properly set up and fed, it does pretty much everything right. Very careful positioning brings out its best, which is not something shows are known for. But I understand the brand will be in several rooms, so you might get lucky.

@willywonka Yeah I didn’t see it either but someone else mentioned them and thought maybe they know something I don’t.  Probably not though. 

audio gear is like health care. The older you get, the more you spend

TAD ME1

Definitely check out the Upscale Audio booth, check out Tannoy’s……and TAD if the are as well

@ghdprentice

"If you can afford $30K speakers you certainly deserve them"

I know 14 or so people personally on this Planet who can afford 30K speakers (without starving their children) and at least 12 of them don’t deserve it, according to me, their parents, their children and all our mutual acquaintances. But those are  not representatives of the wealthy necessarily just the lowlifes in my bubble.

And I also know about about 120 who definitely deserve it but couldn’t afford 3K speakers or even 300 dollar speakers.

That was my socialist nonsense for April, everybody can relax.

Thanks for all of your suggestions here. I know I ended up adding several rooms to my list because of them!

For those bucks I would be looking at ditching the power amp and using the extra funds to go active with ATC. We’re talking a completely different level..

Verity has a new speaker being released at Munich in 4 weeks. So here's my list:

Fink Team KIM
Fyne Audio Vintage 12 or 15
ATC SCM 100 Active
Raidho X2t
Fyne F1-10S or F1-12S

1. Acapella 

2. Audio Note 

3. Devore

4. Martin (Bird 1)