New speakers for a new start?

Whew. A lot of advice here but I can't help myself.

1. I have a pair of Thiel CS6 and they do everything you want. I live in central Washington and if you are in the area you are welcome to come hear them. You are way ahead of the average user in that you understand that Thiels are hard to drive. I'm using a Krell KSA 300S which is one of the amps that Jim Thiel used to voice them. I run mine full range with a Velodyne subwoofer covering the bottom octave.

2. If possible I recommend that you attend an audio show so you can get a feel for what is out there. It's much easier to buy used stuff if you have a better idea of the range of options. I have been to three shows and have found that my system holds up to pretty much anything under six figures.

3. One option that I don't think has been mentioned is the Revel Salon2. These are some of the best sounding speakers ever made and they come up frequently on the used market for $10 to $15k. You can't go wrong with a pair of these. They are somewhat easier to drive than the large Thiels but still need a robust amp that will increase its power into low impedances.

4. For a research exercise it would be very helpful to review Stereophile's Recommended Components over the last 25 years or so and see what speakers were rated as Class A. IMO the state of the art has not changed that much for speakers that cost under $100k. A top rated speaker of 20 years ago still sounds great today. That will give you a basis to sort the wheat from the chaff if you are looking for high end used speakers.

The sheer cost of MBLs' makes my foray into diy Walsh drivers look like tilting windmills with a toothpick, but overall I'm pleased with what I'm creating.

Since speakers are the last and most important item in your personal formula for audio nirvana...

....'audition' what you can, 'best guess' what you can't, and be steeled for freight returns...

...and Remember:

'Breaking In' is as much You as the component....👍🤞

@devinplombier wrote:

"I love planar speakers for their speed and transparency, but the fact that I can't sit still in their minuscule sweet spot for very long..."

So if I understand correctly, you would like a wide sweet spot area.

Let me suggest three possible approaches to getting an enjoyable soundstage across a fairly wide listening area.  First, a bit of background:

The ear localizes sound by ARRIVAL TIME and INTENSITY.  When you are sitting in the center sweet spot, the arrival time and intensity are the same from both speakers for a vocalist in the center of the soundstage.  When you move off to one side, the near speaker normally WINS both "arrival time" (because it is closer) AND "intensity" (because it is louder, especially if you are now more on-axis of the near speaker and more off-axis of the far speaker).  Normally the location of the center vocalists shifts further than YOU do:  If you move one foot to the left, the center vocalist may move two feet to the left, because the left speaker is "winning" BOTH arrival time and intensity.  If  you move too far to the left, the vocalist seems to be located at the left speaker.

Okay the first approach that gives you an unusually wide sweet spot is to use omnidirectional speakers.  The near speaker will still "win" arrival time of course, but it will "win" intensity by only a small margin, so the image shift towards the near speaker is not as severe.

The second approach that gives you an unusually wide sweet spot is to use line-source-approximating speakers that have a fairly wide and exceptionally uniform radiation pattern.  Sound pressure level falls off more gradually with distance from a line source than from a point source, so the difference in intensity (loudness) betwen the near and far speakers is often even less than with omnidirectional speakers.

The third approach is to use speakers with exceptionally uniform but not very wide radiation patterns (maybe 90 degrees wide), and toe them in aggressively such that the patterns criss-cross IN FRONT OF the main listening area.  So what happens is, as you move off to one side you are moving off-axis of the near speaker but on-axis of the far speaker.  So the far speaker is actually LOUDER, and this somewhat offsets the earlier arrival time of the near speaker!  This is called "time-intensity trading".  In order for it to work well, the output of the near speaker must fall off SMOOTHLY and RAPIDLY as you move off-axis.

This is a big subject and I've only addressed one aspect of it here. I can go into more detail if you'd like.

Duke

dealer/manufacturer

Couple thoughts 

Given that you are building from scratch, I agree vehemently in starting with speakers first.  Speakers are frequently the worst component in terms of resale  and visually the most prominent combined with being heavy, easily damaged and hard to handle.  

You mention "I love planar speakers for their speed and transparency, but the fact that I can't sit still in their minuscule sweet spot for very long, coupled with their general lack of bass probably makes them a less than ideal choice for me."

This is more of a view of one particular brand rather than all Planars.  There are others that behave very differently.  Take a look at Diptyque.  These have MUCH better bass response and overall are an exciting speaker that works quite well and have a broader sweetspot. 

For that same sort of immersive experience you could look at speakers beyond Legacy which is a nice product.  Brands to consider:

1. Borreson which is a hot at the moment is an interesting product as is.  These are tough to place in-room but if they work in your space they are amazing

2. Raidho/Scansonic which is Borreson's former company. Same issue as Borreson, hard to place but have a broader range of pricing.

3. Audiovector as it delivers a similar experience, is easier to place and is far more reasonably priced. That said, they aren't as novel as Borreson at the moment.

There are a million other speakers around that are great.  Everything from Martin Logan, Vivid, Wilson Benesch, Wilson, Magico, Rockport, Marten, etc...  You need to find ones that you want to look at and deliver the experience you want.  

Full disclosure, I am a Diptyque, Audiovector, Raidho and Wilson Benesch dealer.  I have no affiliation with any of the other brands mentioned.  

I also love the sound of electrostatics, but having massive 6 foot tall panels anywhere in my house is a definite no go.

One possibly surprising, fairly mainstream choice are Monitor Audio speakers. They are surprisingly fast in sound and are well controlled. Whereas something like B&W speakers definitely fall on the analytical and harsh side, I’ve found that the MA speakers are just on the fine line between warm and analytical in sound.

The Silver series is good. The Gold series is better. I haven’t heard their Platinum series of speakers. A friend is running his 6G Silver 500s (current MSRP of $3200 for a pair) with a Modwright preamp and Pass power amp and it sounds delightful. They seem fairly easy to drive from an amplification standpoint.The speakers have kept up with every improvement in amplification that he has made in the last several years.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/monitor-audio-silver-500-7g-loudspeaker