What speaker could safely be ordered without hearing it first?

Thanks everyone.  

@erik_squires @tablejockey you guys are looking at the upstairs system, this question is more for my downstairs.  

@vonhelmholtz interesting question.  Haven't tried without but can tell you I've consciously ruled out some speakers where the drivers are on the floor, so to speak vs. ones that have them elevated above the line of the table.  

@stuartk I'm totally with you, and can't say i'm really even entertaining this.  In the sports car world some guys just blindly gamble on a $250K car and have it delivered.  I'm much too picky in re: condition.  

Everyone else I get that it's dependent on room, synergy etc as I already stated.  What i'm hoping bubbles to the top is a few names or models that I should target auditioning, that are just that good that the collective here would nearly unanimously agree.  @soix @markalarsen thanks for the feedback.  

Hi everyone,

Great to see so much participation, thanks much for this. I just want to reinforce of course I want to listen first, but as many of you have acknowledged it’s not always possible. Heck I live in Chicago and there are some brands that you can’t get near without flying. Also I totally get buying used and then flipping out of them if it doesn’t work. Many have asked about budget. So far I’ve not been blown away by much but that’s a story for a different thread. I’d say 10-30K.

Some strong votes for Joseph, Magico, Harbeth and even Montior Audio. My current MA’s shine as noted below.....I’m surprised I didn’t get anyone voting for Wilson.

I do also want to add that my room is VERY well sorted. Have had the main Axpona setup guy from my local award winning dealer over and he said my setup was "near perfect" and that "I’ve seen people spend a lot more and get a lot less" than I am getting out of my current setup. Just because you don’t have some fancy diffuser on the wall doesn’t mean you can’t use furniture for first order reflection, as an example.

I’ll try to take some of the comments and feedback and answer as best I can.

@falconquest forgot about Legacy and you are correct, nearly universal praise.

@ltmandella and good reminder on ProAc....getting a lot of love here but reviews seemed to indicate very bass heavy. Good looking and great fit for my room size wise.

@fertguy thanks for compliment on table. I grew up with that heavy thing and shifted it back home when my step brother passed.

@hysteve recently heard the Magico A3 and really liked it, but that’s also a story for my other thread. A bit low on WAF but not out of the question. the ones with color are really neat.

@mbmi your post made me look up the X3...and a local dealer has them and some Focal’s I would like to hear. Thanks for this that does look like great value.

@wsrrsw on the bluesound upgrade I hear you...but demo’d a Lumin at home and the sound was marginally better but the user experience atrocious. Have my eye on HiFi Rose.

@phishhhhh4 2 nights Alpharetta this weekend, very much looking forward to it.

@kennyc "If the OP is asking for the the best choice without trying, then maybe it’s a probability question aka maximizing the probability of success by choosing a popular seemingly universally appraised speaker." Nailed it! This is the crux of the question.

@soix shout out to you for suggesting a very fun song.

@panzrwagn using MA Silvers today...and paired with my very friendly room noted above i’m having a hard time....some demo’s that should rock my world don’t because the dealer rooms don’t always cooperate and speakers that should be a clear upgrade leave me wanting more. In home might be the play?

@jayctoy no decisions yet. But have to say i’m intrigued by something like this, which is a good example of "not able to listen first".

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisb5bd1-raidho-td-3-2-speakers-full-range

Thanks all, more feedback welcome. Again shocked I didn’t get a vote for Wilson on this one.

OK well this thread has been very well received, thanks again to everyone for the feedback.  Some further comments and answers to questions below:  

@mbmi Yes, I intend to check out Next Level and the X3 sometime soon!  

@hysteve I hope you are loving the Magico's.....did really like them this time around and am intrigued.  I would very much like to stay with my current integrated, and the word is they are very hungry speakers.  

@arthur1260 there is an older Kef Reference for me for sale for a fraction of new, very tempting.  Also a decent pair of the current version.  One of my best ever hifi experiences in college was with a set of Kef's.

@audioman58 my system is in my profile, would hope to not have to upgrade my amp in an ideal world.  

@kymanor1 10-30K high side.  I don't have a ton of room which is why while I really enjoyed the Wilson Sasha DAW for example, it's low on the list for size reasons.  Assume ML has similar constraints.

@moose89 @tjjunk I did just bring home a clean pair of quartets on Friday night to play around with.  I'm targeting them upstairs but plan to do a rotation into my main rig to see how they sound.  So far the word that comes to mind is "fun".  They are a hoot with tubes and classic rock.  

@sudnh My system is viewable in my profile and budget is 10 to as high as 30k if i'm really compelled by something.

@helomech not me, i'm the original owner of my MA's.  They are so cheap used I'd likely keep them as spares.  My wife not to happy with my speaker collecting of late, LOL.  

@desktopguy good advice.  Take a look at my system but I have roughly 2' to back wall and 2' to side, so reasonable space with a smaller tower.  A giant Wilson (for example) would eat up a good bit of that.  

@jpwarren58 so true on WAF.  I do run them all by her, and have been pleasantly surprised on some of them.  She's down for most everything reasonable.  Loved the KEF I showed her. SF should be the clear winner here! 

@giantsalami Yeah I'm getting there on the extra speakers (see above).  I think you are spot on in that the room is sorted, and as long as I don't make a drastic change I should be fine.  Problem is dealer demo rooms are not always sorted, leaving me underwhelmed at times.  

@firberger KEF coming up again.  I really do need to find my way to the local dealer with the Reference models.  

@bassdude another vote for Legacy.  Right after I bought the Klipsch noted above a really interesting pair of bookshelf/monitors from them came online.  Tempting still if for no other reason than to try them out.  

Thanks all, will keep you posted as search progresses.  

Hi everyone, so quick update here....I did follow the bits of advice many provided here, specifically around a brand, buying used and also around following a house sound. I do need to write another longer post about the overall search and how my tastes have changed dramatically as I get deeper down the rabbit hole, but that’s a story for another day.

With regard to the final winner.... see my virtual system (side note attaching here is such a pain!). Magico S3 MK1 in bronze.  @protegimus you were rather prescient with your comments yesterday.   

WAF was pretty high compared to the straight black and works well in my room. With regard to sound, well let’s just say the first thing my wife said was "man these image really well compared to before"....SOLD!

OK so I did an upload to one of the free sites.  I have a little cleaning up to do but this is a preview....they seemed huge initially but i'm getting used to them!  

@perkadin thanks man.  That shot doesn't show the signed Trey poster off to the right!  Now that i've adjusted to them they fit in quite nicely, but took a couple days to get used to.  Oh and BTW they are sublime thus far.  One thing I did notice is just how deep vertically the soundstage is now vs. what I had prior.  I'm not sure if that's because the tweeter is 8" or more above the ear, but man it's working for me thus far.  I need to keep tweaking toe in....having friends over tonight to debut and will get their opinions.