the smoothest sounding speaker

Other brands known for a smooth mid & treble range: Silverline Audio, Vienna Acoustics, Sonus Faber, Opera, Roman Audio and DCM TFE series. Of these, IMHO, the best resolution would be Silverline and Roman, and the Vandersteens offer decent resolution as well. The good news is that the sonic characteristics you seek are obtainable and for reasonable money. The bad news is that many factors play a part, not just the speakers, and just throwing money at your system won't guaranty the results you seek. I own Vandersteen 1Cs with a pair of 2Wq subs. While the sound from my rig is fairly smooth, I've heard smoother (Silverline, Roman Audio). Likewise, you cannot ignore the associated gear. Prior to a series of upgrades and fine-tuning, the same 1Cs sounded much less smooth and fatigue would set in earlier than in my present configuration.

Zapper: Which Silverlines do you own? What do feed them with? I've heard several models at HE shows and always enjoyed them. TIA.

Cwlondon: FWIW, the most resolving speakers I have owned are also the least fatiguing - the Ohm Walsh 2000s. I have heard more fine detail from some kilo-buck speakers, but in many cases, that came with the kind of stridency that brings on fatigue quickly, IME. The Ohms, with which I am about 3 months into a 4 month trial period, lack any of the congestion, stridency, brittleness and edge that makes me want to shut off the music and watch a movie before I get through a single album. IMHO, this is due to the absence of a crossover in the critical brightness range of 4-8kHz. The Ohm Walsh crosses over to a supertweeter at around 8kHz, much higher up than conventional multi-driver dynamic speakers. Of course, good design also plays a part in this.

As for other "smooth" components, amplifiers I like are Odyssey Audio Stratos (which I own), the Butler hybrid amps, and any current model by Moscode. All are very smooth, yet dynamic and resolving.

Mrtennis - until one has heard a system that is both smooth and resolving, it is hard to conceptualize. I have been fortunate enough to hear a few systems that are highly resolving of fine detail, yet produce no grit, glare or edge in the music. I do not equate smoothness with an overall excess of warmth and lack of fine detail. I think most people consider a system smooth if it lacks those unwanted artifacts of grit, glare, edge and sharpness.

I consider myself extremely fortunate in that my own system has evolved over the years to the point where I experience just that combination of excellent detail resolution without any of the downsides usually associated with such systems.