Originally posted by: konakona
If I had that kinda budget I would try to look for some used maggies...
Magnepans are the speakers from hell. They sound great - no doubt about it - but you have to be standing dead in front of the damn things, or they sound like trash. Unless you're sitting in your listening chair, they're useless.
Furthermore, you've got to keep them away from walls (at least 5' so you don't get reflection), position them perfectly in the room, and get a subwoofer to cover anything below 80hz. And older magnepans are highly prone to damage, and unlike normal speakers, are REALLY hard to fix.
They do sound nice, though.
Originally posted by: Oyeve
I have a pair of Paradigm Atoms V.3. They are "ok" kinda flat and needs EQ but pretty decent.
The Paradigm Atoms are benefitted by a sub, especially for HT and gaming. Also, they seem to be a bit picky about room placement - shoving them on bookshelves might not be a good idea. They're not bad speakers, though, and you won't find much better in the price range.
I have'nt listened to the Europas much, but they do seem to be very, very good. However, they're less efficient, can't play as loud (the Atoms I listened two two weeks ago in a store demo could play freakishly loud with no difficulty), and are definitely best used with a sub.
On the other hand, the Radiients have a lot of good points. They're cheap - only $100 a pair! - and sound very, very good. Because of the coaxial design, you can mount them at odd angles without sonic problems - while a normal speaker will seem to have the high frequencies coming from a different place than the low frequencies if mounted sideways, the Radiients are more or less the same from all angles.
Also, they have something which gives a definite advantage over the Atoms: A front-mounted port. While "port noise" from air moving in and out of the port can sometimes be a problem at high volume levels on a port facing forwards, it also means that the speaker can be mounted directly against the wall (although you'll need to EQ away the increased bass response if you do.)
If you want in-walls, the Bohlender Graebners will work very, very well. I've played with their Neo3 tweeter a bit - while I can't speak for the woofers used in the BG in-wall speakers, the Neo3 is one of the best tweeters ever made, and the Neo3PDR's off-axis response makes it a wonderful choice for in-wall use - it should do a fine job of allowing you to listen anywhere in the room.
And there's still the Modula MT. You really can't go wrong with having the equivalent of a good pair of studio monitors in your walls. And, out of all the speakers I've listed, this is the only pair that works A-OK without any form of subwoofer.
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