Frank, I've admired your work for a long time - happy to give you my 2 cents on loudspeakers. I am a dedicated Vandersteen fan - I have a set of 3A Signatures that retail for ~ $ 3500.00, sound great, image very well, and are pretty "mainstream" - i.e. good choice for developing amp.s and preamps that will work well with a lot of loudspeakers. They also have a "pulse response" that is as good or better than anything else on the market, due to their use of very linear drivers and incorporation of a "minimalist" first-order crossover from top to bottom. The new Vandy Quatro's also look interesting, and fit your budget, although I haven't heard them yet. At the risk of pissing a lot of entrepreneur's on this forum off, I'd be cautious about testing your stuff with a "boutique" loudspeaker which only three other people have heard of, much less heard.
Speaking of hearing, I recently auditioned the new B&W 802D's with the diamond tweeter at Best Sound in St. Louis- what a sweet loudspeaker...unfortunately they cost $ 12,500 a pair. The big difference between these and all the past B&W's I've heard is that these don't peel paint off the walls, and they actually image ! I'm told that the reason is that the new diamond tweeter has no audible resonance and has wide enough bandwidth to allow use of a first order crossover between the tweeter and the superb Kevlar anisotropic midrange driver. Despite their price, I think this might be the line (or, of course, Vandersteen) to sell with your superb amps and preamps.
