Recommendations for HiFi Listening Room

We're in Appleton, Wi.

Thank you all for the responses and suggestions.  It appears I have a few hifi dealers in the area so I should be able to easily test Legacy Audio, KEF, B&W, Golden Ear, Focal, MartinLogan and a few others besides the Personas that i liked.

If anyone has opinions about the above options, I’d love to hear them.  Particularly, if a particular line appears well suited for my needs (and wildly varied music taste) and/or suggestions on pairing an amp. I can say that my wife is going to be more excited about the Legacy Audio aesthetics than the Personas (and B&W would need to sound perfect for her to allow the look of them) but ultimately it’ll come down to performance for us both. 

A few more details about the room: it has wood floors that are fairly covered with several rugs and an absolutely gigantic and thick fabric couch (seats 10) that takes up a comical amount of space.  There are 9 large windows (about 30 inches wide and 8+ feet tall) spaced around 3 of the walls and a fireplace.  The entryway from the kitchen is about 7 ft wide and there is a small balcony on the top floor overlooking the room above the entryway.  Room is slightly asymmetrical and one corner more of a fifth wall about 5 ft wide.  It’s easily the coolest room of the house but we never have a reason to sit in it so we thought a great 2 channel sound system would prompt us to use it. I sent info to Gik this evening so thanks for that suggestion as well.

This group is a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate your time immensely!

Thanks for the many responses, I’ve been hard at work researching the many options you have all provided. I’ve had an opportunity to audition MartinLogan, KEF, Vandersteen, and B&W.  I’m lined up this weekend to listen to the Personas again as well as an A/B trial of Vandersteen Treo, Quatro and Sonus Faber Olympica Nova 3 (and possibly the Vs if they also have them in stock).  Then we’ll see what next weekend brings :)

One follow-up question: I have twenty years worth of iTunes purchases and an Apple Music subscription composing a library around 16,000 tracks. I recognize it’’s not Tidal, Quboz etc.. but they have a growing collection of hi res lossless.  I’m looking to maintain my ability to use Apple Music for the time-being/ maybe forever.  Rather than auditioning 50 music streamers/ servers, can I initially get a good sound by a direct USB-C to USB-B connection from my iPad Air to a high quality amp with built-in DAC like, for instance, Anthem STR?  If so, i can probably dump more money into the speakers and take my time to get the streaming right.

Thanks for response ghdprentice. I’m not very familiar with the various music streaming services.  I believe Qobuz and Apple’s hi res lossless are both 24-bit/192 kHz.  Is there something else that makes Quboz so much more desirable amongst the knowledgeable audiophiles?

Thanks for all the responses, I’ve read reviews and discussion threads for everything that was recommended.  Samples from GIK arrive tomorrow so we can choose colors for the room treatment. They’ve been great.

My wife and I have been able to audition a bunch of speakers: KEF, Martin Logan, B&W, Vandersteen, Sonus Faber, Paradigm, Legacy, Klipsch, McIntosh, and a random couple others.  We’ve narrowed down to the Olympica Nova III and the original Persona 3Fs that we liked.  Wife is adamant that the Personas sound best. I have a follow-up question for anyone familiar with the Personas: Amp recommendations under 10k?  I’ve heard the speakers with both the Anthem STR and MA8900 but not sure if anyone has found the “ideal” pairing. 

New Update 

A bunch of decisions have been made, hopefully you all don’t collectively rag on me too bad for our choices:

Gik Panels are ordered, they are a combination of Tri-Traps, 244s, and Impression Series panels

Persona 3F speakers and the Persona Sub (i also loved the Olympica Nova 3 but wife insisted the 3F sounded better)

Anthem STR

Turntable, cables etc….

Here’s my follow-up question:

Once we have some time to play with the equipment for a while I’ll be in the market for a streamer and DAC.  I’m leaning towards the Aurender N200 but open to suggestions.  If the N200 is a good choice, does anyone have a suggestion for a good standalone DAC, preferably sub 8K, that would pair well with the above listed equipment?