Speakers to hang on to for LIFE

For 10 yrs I lived with a pair of active stats -- AudioExclusiv, a German product. The amps were an OTL design, with adjustable input gain. The electronic cross-over was also adjustable to +/-3db @ 30Hz/12kHz.
The sound was beautiful: soundstage, imaging, and speed were obvious characteristics, as were the natural timbres. Unusually (for stats), I also had dynamics and reasonable transient attack! The lower register was also well developed by stat standards of the time... by comparison to the Quads (THEN, 1990), the A-Es went higher and lower and louder.

They were also beautiful to look at (tall & narrow, art-deco style) with outstanding WAF.

So why sell? I could no longer deal with the constant need for servicing. The amps operated at their very limit (by comparison, class A is polite) and would go beserk (i.e. components were surpassing their limits, & blowing) at any fluctuation in the power supply -- of which, I had many.

Apparently the problems I had have been addressed in newer models.
I do beleive that if this had been the case then, I would have kept these speakers -- "for life", as it were.

The Dunlavy SC-5s is as close to the perfect speaker that I've heard. Had them now for several years and keep getting
surprised with what there are capable of. Many of my friends are just amazed by the multi-channel effects coming from a two channel system.

For 25 years, I have been listening to a good old JBL speaker until last year.
I'm not an upgrade fever patient as you are. I would like to buy the BEST audio equipment, to my ears, within a budget, and keep it for a while. So, I researched for a year and came up with few lists of speakers.

1) B&W Nautilus series (801 - 805) speakers.
2) Revel speakers.
3) Wilson Audio Puppy.
4) Dunlavy speakers.

Any of these speakers are truly the "speakers to hang on for life" but, to select just one among these speakers, I used following criteria:

1) Electrical specification. BTW, I am an electronic engineer.
2) Mechanical design.
2) Sound. I used classic and jazz music.
3) Company's reputation.

The final winner is B&W N802. I would like to say a lot about this speaker but you should auditioned the speaker and judge it yourself.
The B&W N802 is the "speaker to hang on for life" for me.

Great thread guys. Agree with the above poster about the
N802's. What make you choose this speaker over the Revel Studio's ?

There continues to be technical advancement in speaker design that improves sound quality. You will exclude newer designs offering better performance from consideration if you only hear from people who have had their speakers a long time. You might want to solicit opinions on speaker brands that have consistently been top performers and see what people think of their newer products. I owned a pair of ADS speakers for 13 years, replaced them with a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 3s 1 1/2 years ago and I'm totally satisfied with their performance.