which would you buy?

Teflonscoundrel: Double ditto on those very fine Kef Q900s. They continue giving me immense pleasure.

No, I bought the Magneplanar 1.7s and couldn't be happier. I have enough listening space to have them about 4' out into the living room. I took my wife with me for final auditions and we played one of her favorite pieces, the opening to Mendelssohn's cantata, Elijah, which has full orchestra and a chorus singing 8 different parts. She could easily differentiate the inner voices on the Magnepans but not on the Triton Sevens. That settled it for us, and the imposing 19"x65" panel size didn't faze her at all when it comes to the music. She's a keeper.

I have heard the Regas several times, however, and they have a very natural presentation and good in-room dispersion.

Johnnyb53 did you wind up buying the Rega?

Teflonscoundrel, thank you.
Telescope_trade , I am not familiar with Silver line prelude. Had 2 Honda preludes, liked those. ;-)

You should also look into the Silverline Prelude & Prelude plus.

The focal 836v look to be an impressive speaker too. I'll have to see if there are any local dealers that have them. I may be able to spend $2k in order to best the AE Aegis 3, but if I choose wisely, they new speakers will last me a decade. It's the delicate balance of finding the right dac+integrated around $1500"ish" to tie the chain together in shockingly glorious acoustic bliss that makes me say "damn that sounds mind blowing" 2 years down the road long after the newness of a recent purchase wears off.

Thanks everybody! I heard the Triton sevens and they sounded great. my local Kef dealer doesn't have the q 900 on display for me listen to but I've listened other Kef and liked them. I'd be hesitant to buy focal without hearing them. I listened to some paradigm V20.5? bookshelf and they sounded too bright in the treble with an Anthem 225 amp. Kiko65, I agree that the GE7 are insanely impressive, and sound rich and full, but I'm not sure how tight and punchy they are, I'll need to listen again. My current system will need a dac added so I may be selling my yamaha a s500 integrated and getting a peachtree nova? or nad?, etc?. I will stay with solid state (not tubes). My current speakers are Acoustic Energy Aegis 3 towers, and they are quite good for the price I paid, but the are old and and I don't want to buy anything that isn't a noticed improvement. I listen to jazz, classic rock, modern rock hard rock heavy metal industrial, some country,blues female vocalists,minimal hip hop R&B,etc. Just about everything except reggae.

I own the GE 7s, keepers for life.
Very few speakers can give u a taste of HiFi for so little money.
Good enough to compete with $$$$ speakers.
MHO.

If you have neighbors below your apt/condo, the stand-mounted Aon 3 would be advantageous over a floorstander by radiating far less directly into the floor. You can also sand-fill many stands, which further damps the speakers' bass notes before they get to the floor.

Personally, for the room size you mention, I preferred the Aon 3s over the Triton 7s. If needed, you can tighten the bass with an amp with a higher damping factor. The GoldenEars sing with tubes, but SS generally controls bass better.

I would choose the Kef Q900s. I've owned the R700 and was surprised at how good the Q900 sounded compared to the R series speakers given the price difference. I have heard most of the Goldenear Triton speakers and haven't liked them as well as the Kefs.

I can comment on the Golden Ear Aeon 3s that were addressed earlier (tho not par of original ?) since I have a pair at home.

Due to the engineering of the passive low end radiators, I think they would "fill the room" nicely with sound from high to low frequencies without a struggle. Tho the bass is tuneful and not sloppy at all, itis not tight bass, and for a budget of $1500, it would be near impossible to buy new speaks with tight base for that money, even if buying used speakers at used-equipment prices. I run tubes with the Aeons and am happy with them. Main downside for me (but maybe not you) is the plastic cover. Though it looks nice, I prefer MDF/wood materials.

Good luck!

In October 2013 I was auditioning $1500-2500 floorstanders for my living room. I wanted to like the Triton 7 for its folded ribbon tweeter, small footprint, and reasonable price. I had to pass because I couldn't get a good match with the auditioning room, which is about the same size as your room.

The Triton 7 has a lot of bass output, and is probably more at home in a larger room or one with a higher ceiling or open architecture. For your room you might actually get a better match with their Aon 2 or Aon 3. I heard the Aon 3 in a room about your size and it was a good match.

As for the Q900, Kalman Rubinson reviewed it for Stereophile and really liked it.

Also, it might help to know what kinds of music you listen to. I wound up buying Magneplanar 1.7s because they resolved large scale orchestral and choral music better, and their spacing requirements might not work in your 15x15 room.

There are a lot of excellent tower speakers in your price bracket, including the Rega RS3 and RS5, several Focal models (these are transparent, airy, and fast), the Epos K-2. The Monitor Audio Silver Series 6 and Silver Series 8 speakers are excellent, neutral, and fit your budget as well.

MusicDirect has closeout prices on discontinued Focal speakers that put them in your price range. Example: $3200 Focal Chorus 836V for $1799 (demo) or $1899 (unopened stock).

I hope you can audition some Rega RS5s.