So I was faced with one of those challenging situations where I had to spend some $$ quickly, and it had to be in cash. (It’s a long story, and totally legit, but never mind that now. :)) The nearest high-end salon that had stuff that I would buy turned out to be Audio Connection in Verona, NJ, who i had done a little business with years ago when I worked nearby. (Bought a used pair of Merlin TSM-MM’s and a PS Audio integrated from him. The former are still in my main system in our overseas house, and the latter is in my office system in the US.) Was initially thinking about magnepans, but these were ruled out for WAF and cat-damage reasons. Went, listened to a bunch of things, went home with a cherry pair of Vandersteen Treos which I am using with a Rythmik Audio sub. The Treos, depending on which source one reads, go down to either 36 hz -3db or a little lower, but I had the sub anyway, and I like bass.)
So this will be my new “A” system, along with the Directstream DAC, P5, and upcoming PSA preamp. Am absolutely in love with it. (Insert standard reviewer line about rediscovering all kinds of recordings not listened to in years, etc. etc.) By all means hear these if you are in the market in this price range. They are also a fairly easy load for an amp, though not particularly efficient. WAF is also about as high as it gets. Everybody wins!