Floorstanding speaker experiences/recommendations in the $12-25k range

Hello,

I don’t know the specs of the Octave V80SE as I’ve never listened to it before, but it looks like a really great amp especially with the Super Black Box.
I would love to test it with Magnepan speakers.

For example, the MG20.7 will give you the deeper bass you’re looking for and you’ll be moved in the midrange by the sound and physical presence of any saxophone (e.g. Grover Washington Jr.’s version of "É preciso perdoar” in the LP “All my tomorrows”).

I would definitely recommend auditioning them with your amp.

Good luck on your quest!

I guess few of you had the chance to listen to Gryphon EOS2.

I’ve heard it and I think for under $25k there is no better floorstanders. I’ve heard it driven both by Jadis I70 and Diablo 300. It sounded really good with the Jadis and more muffled with the Diablo, so I think it will sound good with the Octave. 

I wanted to recommend Tad Evolution 2 as well, then i remembered the bass is kind of lacking for those but do consider them if you don’t mind a sub. 
 

@elliottbnewcombjr saw these last night while surfing around after the SB 

bgross

They look in great shape.

Very easy to change the cloth, simply staples on the back of the grille's wood frame which simply pulls off push-on retainers. I used white Irish Linen.

The old way of testing speaker cloth was to see how easy it was to blow cigarette smoke thru. (In a corner, it could stain the fabric as well as your lungs).

I would have the dealer confirm the 12" woofers are the original dual coil ones.

As I said, a new select veneer would improve their appearance quite a bit, in which case the appearance/condition of the original veneer is unimportant.

If the tweeters are blown, if it keeps the price down, that’s a good thing, put JS recommended SEAS ones in! These already have the SEAS tweeters.

I agree with @audiotroy  I run my Legacy Focus SEs in a room that's 16'x28'x8'.  Loads of bass to fill the room.  Sadly, I was not able to audition Magico A5s when they had just been released due to Covid and all of the audio stores were shut down.  Would love to hear those but they're 2x as much as the Focus SEs!