[tdangelo]

the Black Swans may sound good but if you have a problem with shipping damage,  prepare for a 6 month nightmare dealing with Gersh.  I went through it 2 times with the same speaker - UPS was great - the delay was Gersh.  and they charged me $250 for sending claim info to UPS   They didn't have any replacement woofers for a current model (the magnet fell off), SO I had to send both speakers to have the cabinets modified to accept new woofers... I still get angry thinking about it....

I see a set of Gershman "Black Swan" in the listing there. My bet for the best you could get at this price!!
I see a pair of Eggleston Andra II's, Proac D80's-(But they may require a bigger room than you have, it's on the bleeding edge..) also.
It might be smarter to get a good stand mount speaker in this 12X17 room you use... I mean if you already have bass problems and so on..
Other than that, "Black Swan" would be VERY hard to beat at that price in the listing there!!!  - but It might be a bit big for the room.

Edit: Actually, I see a speaker in the listing there: A pair of Peak Consult Incognito X's ... Those would fit like a glove!!!

Imperial

[Imperial]

Freak problems aside  ... Would they fit a 12x17 room?
I think they might be a bit big. Your take?

I'm thinking that this room would work best with standmount speakers... or at least ... something a bit smaller
than the VSM's he's using there.

But I also agree with Haskins about checking out the acoustics first. 'Coz you really can fit a big speaker into a room
if that side is taken care of. Some fullsize models could do a good job, but they require some effort of course.

Imperial

[doug s.]

i couldn't imagine any $13k speaker, even retail, that would be worth putting into a room that small...  save it for something else.  if you want to spend it on audio, look at room treatments, preamplifier, & source components, as well as speakers.

ymmv,

doug s.

[Kevin Haskins]

i couldn't imagine any $13k speaker, even retail, that would be worth putting into a room that small...  save it for something else.  if you want to spend it on audio, look at room treatments, preamplifier, & source components, as well as speakers.

ymmv,

doug s.

It is small.   I don't know how you get to $13K on a speaker without multiple levels of markup, and big-time spending on the enclosure and a smaller speaker is probably going to do better in his room than a big complex one.   

For kicks... could I send you a pair of Keplers to compare with whatever you end up with?    I don't really know how I'd spend any more money to improve it.    I'm doing some revisions on the drivers over time but I'm not sure how to improve them much past what I've got now.   

[darrenyeats]

If you haven't heard them yet I would add the Linkwitz Orion to your audition list. They are kit built but you can get a pre-built pair brand new well under your budget.
Darren

[Marbles]

i couldn't imagine any $13k speaker, even retail, that would be worth putting into a room that small...  save it for something else.  if you want to spend it on audio, look at room treatments, preamplifier, & source components, as well as speakers.

ymmv,

doug s.

It is small.   I don't know how you get to $13K on a speaker without multiple levels of markup, and big-time spending on the enclosure and a smaller speaker is probably going to do better in his room than a big complex one.   

For kicks... could I send you a pair of Keplers to compare with whatever you end up with?    I don't really know how I'd spend any more money to improve it.    I'm doing some revisions on the drivers over time but I'm not sure how to improve them much past what I've got now.   

Kevin, you could always build the cabinets out of granit...

[jackman]

Yikes, lots of posts and nobody recommended Emerald Physics yet?  Does this mean they are officially flavors of the week?  That was a pretty fast week.  Anyway, I have no suggestion because you are in a price category that is out of my range.  Why not spend some of that cash to get a bigger place?  Maybe some headphones.

Good luck,

Jack

[Kevin Haskins]

i couldn't imagine any $13k speaker, even retail, that would be worth putting into a room that small...  save it for something else.  if you want to spend it on audio, look at room treatments, preamplifier, & source components, as well as speakers.

ymmv,

doug s.

It is small.   I don't know how you get to $13K on a speaker without multiple levels of markup, and big-time spending on the enclosure and a smaller speaker is probably going to do better in his room than a big complex one.   

For kicks... could I send you a pair of Keplers to compare with whatever you end up with?    I don't really know how I'd spend any more money to improve it.    I'm doing some revisions on the drivers over time but I'm not sure how to improve them much past what I've got now.   

Kevin, you could always build the cabinets out of granit...

Yea... I have a $300,000 CNC granite cutting machine next door.   I'm not kidding.... I do.    I've been thinking of knocking out a couple granite enclosures but shipping them would be a PIA.   They would have to go on a pallet and people buying $10,000 speakers don't want to see that the kit is only $500/pr and the granite enclosure is $4000.00/pr.     

I think they charge $145/ft^2 for the counter tops.   They guys would probably cut some for me for free because I fixed their tunes last month.

 

[TomS]

Yikes, lots of posts and nobody recommended Emerald Physics yet?  Does this mean they are officially flavors of the week?  That was a pretty fast week.  Anyway, I have no suggestion because you are in a price category that is out of my range.  Why not spend some of that cash to get a bigger place?  Maybe some headphones.

Good luck,

Jack

Well, I have both the Emerald Physics CS2's and Merlin VSM-MX's just like Mike has.  For my bigger room the CS2's work out great, but I probably wouldn't recommend them for 12x17 room.  The Merlins should work really well in a room that size, perhaps on the diagonal, so I guess it really depends on where he wants to go.

[Imperial]

mcullinan... I don't see a BAM module listed in your system.
The Merlins really improve with this module.
It does not only help deep bass, it helps way up into the midrange as well!
You should try a BAM before you go any further with your thoughts, I think.
BAM BAM, Acoustical fix BAM, and thank you mam; will occur I believe!

Also, amp change could be an alternative. I don't think the Merlins like too stiff
a dampening factor. An Amp with a more benign quality there, could also be benificial.

Just Thinking out loud here... But these are important elements..

Imperial

[richidoo]

Revel Ultima Studio2. The new Revels are astounding. As are the top Ushers. Lots of dealers so auditioning either should be easy.

Don't forget to factor in the electronics, power and cables that goes with a big jump in speakers. With the increased resolution and dynamics of ultra speakers, you'll probably hear the limitations of mid priced gear. Hi res speakers and electronics will give you the detail of reality, but without a good acoustic plan, the detail will be smeared and money wasted. The ecstasy you crave comes from the walls.

Good luck in your search!!
Rich

[Big Red Machine]

Well my Salk HT3's and $6000 would do it!  I'll deliver them to you.

[maxwalrath]

I have a pair of Meadowlark Kestral Hotrods that I'll carry to your house for that price. 

If you really appreciate woodworking and great looks, from what I've read about them, you might do OK "just" grabbing a pair of Salks with all the bells and whistles in a custom finish. 

[zybar]

I can't resist an opportunity to live vicariously through others' bank accounts, but 13k  aa

I'd probably take a long hard look at the Vandy 5A's like George has, maybe wait to see what Jim Salk cook up to somehow top the HT-3's, or chat with Rick Craig at Selah about some ultimate line source/subs.

I'd still start out with making sure I had a great room, properly treated and spend less on the hardware.

I agree with all of the above.   

George

[mfsoa]

Whazzamatta Mike?
I though you had another pair of $10K+ speakers on the way - Or did you get too tired of waiting?

 

[TONEPUB]

Yep, I agree with the room treatment guys. Id spend 3k on the room treatments of your
choice and 10k on speakers....

And I'd do my best to test drive whatever is convenient.  Hate to see you have buyers
remorse at 10k?

[Wind Chaser]

Something SP Tech-ish, no?

[GregC]

I was going to recommend the CS2 speakers and read all the posts and found just two people mention them.  If the quality of sound is more important than bragging rights related to brand, I would suggest you try to hear them before you make a decision.  At the RMAF show they made some speakers costing more than $15k sound like boom boxes compared to them.  You can buy amplification, room treatments, and a trip to Costa Rica and still have money in the bank.  I feel like they take the room out of the equation to a large extent because of the dipole design and the timing and phase alignment.

YMMV

Greg

[WerTicus]

in high end audio you pay for the price

in any case in terms of COST of PARTS 13k should get you the best of the best, if you were going DIY   (cept... silly things like diamond tweeters, but a good ribbon sounds better anyway)

you could build something like this, with cabinets made professionally and painted professionally for under 10k id say 

http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Humble_Statement.html

and the pride of having done 'something' yourself is priceless

[jon_010101]

You could do some careful research and pick whatever was used to master some of your favorite albums.  Maybe Legacy Audio or something like that

OR, you could commission some insane custom job to exactly fit your room and tastes.  I'd probably do an active tri-amp WMTMW system in that price range, and then build the amps around the individual drivers.