Road trip to demo $10,000 speakers

Ieales, thank you so much for sharing your expertise, and the links and recommendations provided. They will help provide direction.

I have considered sending my DQ-10s to Regnar to be rebuilt and have spoken to them twice, including inquiring about the DQ-89W’s. I finally decided that constantly doing repairs and upgrades on forty plus year old equipment is fighting a losing battle. Parts availability and no experience doing electronics repair myself are limiting factors. If I have to take apart and fix my aesthetically pleasing old Bang and Olufsen Beogram 4002 turntable one more time, I think I’ll scream. It’s time to bite the bullet and start anew. Time marches on whether we like it or not.

I’ll research all your links and will heed your advice and warnings.

Mountainsong, thank you for your recommendation on the Gamut. I never heard of that one either.

Jetson, Good advice on taking notes. I’m planning on doing exactly that.

Headphonedreams, I’ve added the Boenicke’s to the list. There are apparently an endless supply of $10,000 loudspeakers out there I’ve never heard of. Thanks for the suggestion.

Mac1523 your suggestions on the Mac XR100’s and Martin Logans are now on the list too.

Appreciate everyone’s guidance. With all the hurricane induced rain today might be a good day to organize all your suggestions and recommendation on speakers and listening locations. I’ve learned a lot already from all your help.

Would somewhat please clue me in on what the audio term "squids" denotes. I tried googling it but only found overly technical, or aquatic explanations. Thanks,

Michael.

From the context, I would guess that "squids" are Dahlquist speakers. Just a guess.

Well that’s a nice and exciting trip, but I know it is also usually sprinkled with some anxiety about making the right choice. The best advice I can give is use your ears, your heart and your soul first...that’s what music is all about. Dont let marketing and salesmen choose for you. The speakers are the most important choice since it’s the only component that will emit sound and probably the one with which you have or will have the more intimate connection.
That said, I dont want to play the salesman and would say listen to as many as you can, and look also carefully at the implementation and the room to compare. So many good speakers can be so badly implemented...
The ones I would add here are Sonus Faber, Tannoy, Piega, Proac, deVore, Harbeth for a few. I own several speakers over 10K and also over 30K, and the best speakers below 10K which I have personally heard, compared and ultimately purchased are the XTZ Divine Alpha. I put them at least on par with the BW800D3. Plays well in small rooms as well, with tuning possibilities, but not sure if and where you can demo them in US though...
Remember, the best speaker doesn't have the best highs, or lows, or mids, or definition, it has the best compromise of everything that makes listening always a pleasure.
Finally, should you find the ones that speak to you but you're just not sure because bass is lacking, well subwoofers can be added later for your near total and perfect pleasure, and it's not against the religion.
All the best! Hit the road Jack

Yes, the XTZ looks very intriguing, but not much of a US presence that I can find.  I can't find a US phone number on their US Store page to call and speak with someone.  Also, the Alpha is shown to be out of stock.  And the 30-Day Buy and Try option is not active in the USA.  Oh, well...