Montana Speakers? Have they fizzled out?

Hi all. Jamesg quoted my response to him regardng the Montana SP IIs that I sold him. Let me reiterate and say that I did indeed regret selling my SP IIs as these were the most musical speakers I have ever heard; among them dynaudio
Contour 3.4, 1.8 mkII, medowlark kestral & osprey, soliloquy, vienna acoustics, triangle, etc. etc. etc. The defining attribute was (and still is in my opinion) a crystal clear, delicate and truly life-like sounding mid-range. Like Barry Willis wrote in his Stereophile review, "as though the performers were present in the room", at least a paraphrase of it. These speakers, while not forcefull at the lowest bottom octave, have a tight, controlled and body-felt thump, and the highs are smooth and liquid as I have ever heard. I must say that I am quite happy that I sold my SP IIs.....because if I had not I would have never obtained the SP IIIs, for which I got a killer deal in the most beautiful birdseye maple finish. In summary, I believe that I will grow old with these speakers since they provide my the essence of music and the reason why I am into hifi at all. I realize that much of this hobby is subjective likes and dislikes, but my advice is to build a system around the speakers, not the electronics. With the Montana SP IIIs my sytem has come into its own and I am happy as a clam.

Regards to all.

One more thing...I have bought and sold at least a dozen speakers on Audiogon. My experience is that used speakers sell for roughly half retail cost, specifically those in the 8/10-9/10 rating. I agree with Jamesg the larger/heavier model such as Montana EPX, Wilson, etc. can actually sell for less than half because of the shipping hassles with moving them. The recent pair of Montana SP IIIs I bought were nearly new (less than one year with 4 years still under warranty) and flawless in every way (better yet because I do not have to break them in). My cost for these were again less than half retail, but the sellser probably could have gottem more on the open used-market (I found them through word of mouth).