Been a while since we had a client interested so looking for some recent experience/reviews of some nice floor standing stereo speakers, price range $2,500 - $15,000 I know its a big range but it depends on both sound and aesthetics no 125K watt puppies

Dynaudio?
Thiel?
James?

Any reviews would help, thanks in advance

Take a look at the Triad Platinums, they run in the 6,000.00 to 6,500.00 range Each

Nice looking speaker and sound nice too

[Link: triadspeakers.com]

Only sold 1 pr and it was about 4 1/2-5 years ago

I've used B-G Corp Z Series with luck. But you might want a pretty serious amp. They do tend to need something extra stout.

Imagine the James, or Thiel would be a good choice as well......

Focal, Sonus Faber, and Thiel would all be on my list of good speakers within that price range. Of course there is always B&W, but something different is always good.

What amp/amps does he have? I would recommend the B&W 802D's, but you'll want to back them up with a nice amp.

If he's just using them to play music and only listens to cds, you could use Meridian speakers and have an awesome 2-channel system. Or if said cd player had built in volume adjustment, you could also use Genelecs.

Lots of options, a little more info and we could give you a few more choices.

Info is this, main listenning would be MP3 at fairly decent sampling rate, I know I KNow I KNow, so don't flame, customer only lives in unit two days a week,

amplification will be whatever is appropriate for the speakers, Aesthetics are of concern and sound quality is a very very close second,

I was also thinking of Revels, but Madrigal's stability recently has worried me

Are you looking for specific suggestions, or just for brands within that price range for now?

The Revel's will be a very revealing speaker(neutral), while others have characteristics that might "help" the mp3's. Also, there are definetly speakers that look better than the Revels.

Another one I thought about would be Martin Logan.

Linn Speakers (many to choose from)

OK I'm going to make a rare stab at something not at all CI friendly. Flame away if you feel you must but I shall ignore the nay-sayers and stick with a suggestion of B&O's Beosound 9000. I suggest this because all the usual suspects are pretty well documented, (I'm a Triad fan personally) and this is something different that may just peak the client's interest.

[Link: bang-olufsen.com]

It is a very unique system aesthetically and has a good deal of wow factor, very bachelor pad friendly. Sound is not necessarily on a par with similarly priced stand alone speakers but it's not bad when coupled with their sub.

In addition to playing your CD's and radio you can have this connected directly to a PC and play all your MP3's.

Pros= A complete system, not just speakers. Very cool looking. Can be mounted horizontally, vertically, free standing or on a cabinet. Did I mention it looks awesome. Works really well with other B&O products, i.e. phones turn down music when they ring. Nice remote. Plays MP3's as well as can be expected.

Cons= Can only be controlled by "some" controllers due to high frequency IR. Virtually impossible to integrate with anything else. Doesn't sound as good as a standalone system but it ain't bad. Tough to get hold of unless buying retail, (then again so is just about every other speaker in your price range if you're not a dealer already).

What are you a dealer for? Start there and put together a good package. Hate to say what you already know, but putting high end speakers in a system that will play MP3s, even high bit rate MP3s is a huge waste of $$ and your rep.

I had the pleasure of attending the Revel Salon 2 demo at the Teatro Hotel in Denver during CEDIA. It sounds & looks awesome. The M.S.R.P. for the Salon 2 is $22,000
The Studio 2 might be in the price range you are looking for.
The new Revel Ultima 2 series look is fantastic.
Some people had issues with the techno look of the original Revel Ultima series.

Why would one settle for mp3 music into a great pair of speakers.

This would be analagous to having a Sony 1080p Quallia Projector and using composite video from a vhs VCR as your source.

I tried my darndest to take them out of it. I had to convince them not to use the distributed audio amp for power too!

Like the look, but for looks and performance comparison, I'd spec Revox instead.

this thread is so subjective and everyone is going to have their own personal opinions, so I am just going to throw mine in to the mix... nothing is taken into consideration here, except my personal taste and past experience...

for a small system that will be used in the near field or midfield...
ProAc Response 1SC (on stands) matched to an appropriate REL subwoofer, like the Storm III.
amazing image at a modest SPL output. tone is perfect.

for a medium system that will also be used in midfield...
Verity Parsifal
also great imaging and tone, "acts like a mini monitor", but with a bit more body for higher SPL or larger rooms, but still a "civilized" speaker

larger systems, eh, haven't really found something that really strikes my fancy like the 2 above. i've heard plenty of B&W systems, including THE Nautilus, Meridians, Martin Logans... with higher end systems, there are more places to mess something up. I would be inclined to look towards Dali and their Euphonia systems if I had to sell something tomorrow.

I try not to flame here, but it is criminal to sell a high end pair of speakers knowing that the source will be highly compressed mp3s. You will end up with better sound if you use a less expensive, less detailed speaker that will not end up blatently exposing the lack of dynamic range associated with compression. There are even great cd recordings that sound fantastic in your car, but not so good on a high end system. I will give you a great example. Listen to Pearl Jam's Ten cd in your car. Freaking rocks right? Now play that same cd on a high end 2 channel setup. Hmmmmm Er.... What? Well now it doesn't sound so good, and actually kind of blah. Why? Compression. While not exactley the same type of compression, it is a great example of why accurate is not always better. You would be much better served being honest with this person then just helping them waste their money.