What are the best loudspeakers under $4000 to re-create lifelike piano

I love maggies, I also think the  era VA beethovens are really special and affordable on the used market.

Used ATC SCM40 passives are right at your price point.

With the right components…

Philharmonic BMR monitor powered with a Hegel H95 or H 360, depending which room I move them to. They were a DIY kit from Meniscus Audio. In Baltic Birch cabs. I used top tier Clarity caps for the tweeter, air core inductors and mid tier Clarity caps for the midrange circuit and all Mundorf resistors. Much better x-over components than most speaker companies use. These speakers are transparent and accurate. Solo piano sounds wonderful. Violins sound realistic. Being a stand mount, they don't scale as large as a full orchestra, but tone and timbre wise, they're excellent. The speaker designer is a professional classical violinist. The best I've ever owned, they make my other speakers sound sad. DIY rocks!

Agree on Philharmonic my musician friend has an older pair of the Phil 3 which is truly amazing. I see they also have a tower on their web now about 4K that goes down to 25 hz.

Any Maggie 1.7 or higher with a sub will also sound fantastic.

I personally dont think you're getting there without a quality subwoofer, here are few big speakers that i think will...im only listing new speakers

Emotiva t2+ & t3+

Polk Reserve r700

Ohm Walsh 2000

Definitive D17

Dynaudio Emit 50

KLH Model 5

Golden Ear speakers with the built in subs....i'd add subs to all of these tho..

so I compared speakers with 3 cords of a piano intro from the Gypsy Queen by VM. I was sold when I heard it as if it were in the room. It was a low end Dynaudio monitor

I can't believe the comments that say 4K is not enough. Get a life

I am a full-time trained classical pianist who still regularly perform on various grand pianos so let me chip in on this discussion.

I think the bare minimum speaker I've heard that is decent to listen to piano was ATC SCM19 though it's slightly over 4K for a pair, but if you pressed me I guess below 4K I might settle with an Amphion Argon 1. 

Currently using a Cabasse Riga setup and it's very lovely for piano and classical. 

If it's a box with cones, keep moving.

It has been almost 5 years since I started this thread.  Over that time period, I've owned a bunch of different speakers and electronics.  With 5 years of trial and error and stating the obvious, rooms and electronics matter as much if not more than the speakers.  And....recordings with piano are all over the map in terms of how they attempt to spread the sound over two speakers.

I've also come to believe that a system/room/speakers that are capable of portraying a realistic piano may not be as convincing in other areas.  A recent example:

A buddy of mine has Maggie 3.7i's fronted by a Lyngdord 2170 used for its dac and room correction as a preamp into a Halo A21.  The Maggies are crossed at 80hz and an Audio Kinesis 4 sub array handles the bottom end.  The realism of a piano is really, really good...but...only if the volume is 80db-90db at the listening position.  Less than 80db  and the piano sounds lifeless and more than 90db and it is too bright.

The Maggies are equally convincing with stringed instruments...but only one or two at a time...more complex music that contains 4+ instruments and voices seem a little less clear and focused....and again have the volume limitation issue.

By comparison, I would say that my own system with an Oppo 205 into a Belles 22a pre into a Wells Immorata llST amplifier into Spatial Audio M3 Sapphires also does an excellent job with pianos....not quite as realistic as the Maggies but quite a bit better on all other music....and really good at 70db as well.

I draw no firm conclusions at this point and have no pronouncements to make...I just remain interest in everyone else's experiences.