2017 ‘Keeper’ speakers under - $25K


Heading towards the second half of 2017, I thought to ask here what other’s feel based on their experiences, wants or desires, exactly which recent production speakers under $25K, would be the ones you would want to marry.

Or be in a very long term fundamentally though not totally committed, relationship.

One wherein if they promise to satisfy on demand, you promise to keep them clean and sufficiently supplied with power and the purest of signals, not to leave dirty clothes on the floor, and to take the trash out daily, er, uh, regularly.

Actually, those last two items are predominately conscience driven and do not command perfect adherence.

Which speakers hands down just flat out captivated your attention, fancy, or were so compelling they made a significant impact.

In short, Speakers that have taken your breath away .

As speakers are merely one part of the ching let’s qualify things somewhat.

1. Speakers which can run very well in medium sized rooms. EX. 14 to 18ft wide, and 17 to 25ft long or deep, with ceilings from 8.5ft to 10ft H, or so.

2. If a sub was or should have been added, please, mention that as well.

3. If an Ultra high end setup, massive SS power amps, Tubes, or flea watt amps, were feeding and or driving them noting it would be appropriate.

4. Recent production since 2015. New or used.

Although it seems prudent to list only current production speakers, I know adding on the facet of pre-owned adds a lot more choices for the ‘desert island’ I got mine, you get your’s, scenario, but what the hey. It beats that 250 to 500 plus hours of run in new units usually insist upon.

If links to accounts or info on them is available, please include it.

As this is about options anyhow, let no design be excluded.

blindjim
What Randy said. I bought Quad 2905's about 10 years ago. Since then, I've hotrodded them, bought more of them, and become more and more committed to them. So the analogy is apt.

I built my own full complementary push-pull amps to drive them, and changed the step-up transformers to a Vanderveen design (75:1). With +/- 25 VDC rails, the amplifiers cannot drive the Quads into protection - it's theoretically impossible. Therefore I could eliminate the protection circuits with impunity, with corresponding gains in transparency. Oh, and changing to air-gap capacitors for the delay ladder didn't hurt either.

Long live Class A plus ESL !!!

Martin Logan 13A or 15A.  Wonderful speakers and woofers can be adjusted to your room using Anthem Room Correction.
Living Voice OBX-RW3, I heard the OBX RW's and well they are fantastic but they could use a sub in a larger room. 94db and an easy load so SET friendly. too bad I can  not afford the top line ones so I settled for the Avatar 2's and am very happy.