Your question, as the previous poster remarked, is indeed remarkable. The easiest answer is that no speakers except perhaps the Dali Megalines, reviewed by Robert Green in the current TAS can ever hope to reproduce the complexity of a Mahler symphony. However, that said, I have many versions of the Mahler symphonies on LP, CD, and SACD, and I enjoy them immensely. Although Mahlers music has tremendous crescendos, (marked fff, which means they are to be played quite forcefully), many sections are marked ppp, that is, they are played very quietly. Thus, your system needs tremendous dynamic range to contend with these contrasts. Also, since Mahlers music, like most classical music, is densely polyphonic (that is, there are many inner voices), your system must have great resolving power. The trouble is that there is no inexpensive way to do this. I would suggest building a system from front to back: first, get the best source components you can find in your budget range, then proceed to the preamp, then to the amp (although a good integrated amp simplifies that a bit), and then find the speakers that work synergistically with the rest of your components. Alas, you also have to contend with wires and all of the other associated audiophile lunacy. This takes a while, and I doubt if anyone has ever done it without making mistakes, but it is fun, and as your system improves, your enjoyment of recorded music will increase apace.
