Which is Best loudspeaker in the $1000-1200 range?

By far the best value in that price range is the Vandersteen 2Ce Signature.

New I would pick the Consonance Eric-1s (1K/pr.). I heard them a year ago with your CD player... That day I bought the player, now a year later I bought the speakers too for my office system.

Used I would choose the Tyler Acoustics Taylo Reference Monitors. Good match for your CD player, and superb performer that matches your listening preferences and value requirements, IMO.

As an aside, I also liked the Spendors mentioned, and used, the Spendor 3/1Ps could be a good choice too...

---Dave

Tough question, speakers are all a matter of personel preference... My 2 cents just because in my search for the money I went with Paradigm Studios v3s, very good speaker and reviews back it up. I had to keep it small so went with the 20v3s with small sub, sounds very good. Depending on your space requirements if you could move up to the Studio 60 v.3 you wouldn't be disappointed... just my opinion and again you have to hear them before buying them, also they have to mesh with your system, some speakers do not match well with some components.. below is a review on the smallest of the Paradigms, they will run your a little over $800 new, hard to find them used, people tend to hold on to the V3s.. One other interesting fact I remember about Paradigm, they are a Canadian speaker and I read somewhere where the Canadian goverment gives Paradigm millions of dollars for research and development to increase product quality, they're thinking is the want the people to know that Canada builds quality products.. I sound like a paradigm salesman lol.. I'm not believe me.. good luck in your search, most importantly go HEAR the speakers with the TYPE of music you listen to whatever speakers you decide on first.

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/paradigm_studio20_v3.htm

I agree with the previous thread about Paradigm, they are very nice speakers. I have owned the 100v2 for years, they do everything well, with an emphasis on rock. The problems with them sounding lean or forward was a terminal case of an all solid state system. When I added tubes to the mix, the metal tweeter and midrange improved greatly. They sounded full, and very nice! I replaced them with Aurum Cantus Music Goddess llspeakers (soon to be on sale)and found that it just comes down to personal taste in music...I found the MGoddess to be much more detailed due to the ribbon tweeter, but I did not like it much for rock and roll.They convey real music very well, but fake music (drum machine's) came off crappy....For classical and jazz, the MG was better. I The AR's were many times better than both, but rare and hard to find. So jazz and classical, the MG's, Paradigm for rock/and large orchestral presentations, but the Paradigm's are not even close to a pair of old (no paper cones) AR's. Real Acoustic Suspension speakers are a lost art, too expensive to make any more.....

look at the audioreview, stereophile review, absolute sound regarding ohm walsh series. The other similar design to the walsh series is decware rl 1.5, info at www.decware.com
These are well reviewed manufacturers in which owners/reviewers find the speakers to have performances sounding 5 times more expensive than it's retail.