Speakers for newbie

I agree with Richardyc. The Tekton Lores may be a great value in speakers, but they're not the best place for a newbie to start. He's better off auditioning as many recommended speakers as possible and homing in on what sounds right to him. This means excellent and well-distributed speakers such as Paradigm, PSB, Energy, Phase Technology, GoldenEar, B&W, etc.,

Buying mail order blind and then paying out the a$$ is it doesn't work out is not a great way to start.

05-29-13: Philjolet
GoldenEar have gotten rave reviews in the mags

I have heard both the GoldenEar Triton Twos and the stand-mounted Aon 3's.

While the Triton 3's are too much money at $3K, the Aon 3's come right in at the OP's budget at $999/pair. I heard them just this past February and they are fantastic at that price point--linear, clean, bass extension and clarity you wouldn't expect from that size enclosure, yet they would have no trouble filling an 18x22 room. Their specs rate them as 8-ohm compatible. They also put out 89 dB at 1w input, so your receiver should be OK with them.

Frankly, however, the Aon 3's are so good you'd do well to move your electronics slightly up to the Marantz PM8004 integrated amp. *That* would be a great match.

The Aon 3's are excellent in several ways, but the one that really distinguishes them at this price is their excellent motion transformer ribbon tweeter. It is so smooth and clean without the usual overshoot and ringing we have become so accustomed to in dome tweeters. Normally, you just don't get a ribbon tweeter with treble extension out to 35 Khz and no inertia artifacts in a $1K pair of speakers, but the GoldenEar Aon 3 *really* delivers.

GoldenEar has many authorized dealers across the country, so auditioning them shouldn't be difficult and is highly recommended before you buy anything.

My guess is that if you didn't like the Paradigm, you probably won't like the PSB, as both brands have a similar house sound.

Well, it's true that they both draw on research from Canada's National Research Council, but I think they have subtle but distinctive differences. To my ears, the Paradigms have a little more "boom 'n' sizzle" In fact, if you look at the Stereophile review's response curves of the Paradigm Studio 20 vs. the PSB Imagine B, you'll see that the Paradigm has a +4dB hump at 100-130 Hz (boom), a depression in the midrange from 1200-2000 Hz, and a rising upper midrange and treble (sizzle). By contrast, the PSB Imagine B is practically textbook flat, with no rises in the boom or sizzle regions, and no midrange suckout.

Personally I like PSBs a lot and have never been able to cozy up to Paradigm for this very reason.

I also really like GoldenEar for their smooth, fast, extended folded ribbon tweeter that's free of ringing and overshoot.