Well you shouldn't get too many opinions on these since most of us have never heard them! They look interesting enough but what are you going to use for the center, sides and rear speakers?

I build all my own speakers (some from kits and some of my own design) and have been very happy with cost and performance. Selfishly, I'd say go for it and then post your review.

There is a quantum level improvement to be had by going from conventional speakers with passive crossovers to electronic crossovers, but this adds cost and complexity. The Behringer or DEQX electronic crossover solutions make it possible for the hobbyist to easily implement active speaker deisgns.

Anybody have any experience with the Adire Rava II sub-woofer? It looks very interesting.

http://www.adireaudio.com/Home/Rava.htm

My 2 cents. JM Labs/Focal. They have stuff at all price points. They make their own drivers and their strong point is the tweeters, absolutely awesome. I agree about dealer markup though it is very high on these. But if you can, go listen to the Cobalt series. In your price range. In a lot of respect similar to the Dynaudios but more highs.

Okay, since no one has mentioned them.......

Ascend Acoustics has some excellent speakers. I own CBM-170's for my front mains. Their 340M's are very highly rated, and the 340C is an exact match so you'd have a perfectly matched front end. The standard finish is black vinyl, but they offer custom, high quality automotive finishes upon request. You could get a pair of front mains w/stands(standard finish) for around $650, and a center for $298. There's likely a package discount available.

If you prefer a multi-pole surround speaker, the Axiom QS series are fantastic! I have QS-8's and love them. They blend very well with my 170's and are extremely enveloping, and sound much bigger than their physical size suggests. They come in several standard vinyl veneers as well as custom finishes.

As for a sub, Axiom's EP500 and 600 are earning rave reviews.

So my recomendation is: Ascend 340's across the front, Axiom QS-8's($500U.S.)surrounds and an Axiom EP500 sub. If you stick with black finishes they should match fairly well.

I would hope you have decent building skills as that does not look like an easy kit to build especially if you've never built speakers before. Don't be fooled by nice looking, finished speaker pictures. Your bare enclosures are not going to look that pretty without some good finish on them.

I also hope you're not thinking that the more drivers, the louder you're system is going to sound. If you want big in your stated price range, go look at the Infinity Beta 50 series of speakers. Big floorstanding mains (twin 10" woofers I believe)with a huge center channel and switchable dipole/bipole/monopole surrounds. If you get their top subwoofer with the built-in EQ, you should be able to get the whole system for around $2500. I've listened to this system in a small demo room and found that it sounds pretty nice for home theater.

I'd contract out the building to someone with the time and capability

My problem with Adire kits ('cept for the subs) is that nobody seems to be selling them. They have only 2 distributors in the USA and only one of them appears to be selling a very limited selection of kits (the Apex isn't one of them). As near as I can guestimate, you'd probably be spending $2.5K+ for that kit if you can even buy one and you were outsourcing the cabinetry.

Personally, I'm a Magnepan kinda guy, but that's not really a tenable solution for a small room. If I was already considering this type of expenditure, and I had a small room, I'd look at something like the VMPS Ribbon Monitor Two. Those run about $2200 for a kit and about $2700 delivered finished to your door. I have a neighbor with these who used them to replace a pair of Thiel 7's. They sound fantastic. More info here:

http://www.vmpsaudio.com/rmdoc2.htm

Cheers,

The audio shop guy told me I didn't have enough power for Maggies ... then he tried to sell me some Paradigms. Hmm.

As far as Adire is concerned, I live in the area of their HQ. They tend to have a few kits to listen to on hand, and the kits aren't terribly difficult to come across -- even the Apex[1]. I was only half serious in mentioning the Apex, in any case -- I think the LCR would be a better choice for me.

1. http://quicksitebuilder.cnet.com/wrnch2/apex.html

Regarding cost -- I'm quite content to blow my budget as long as I feel I'm getting appropriate value.

Now I just need to find someone who can make speakers look like this:

http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/images/main-G7p1c-pair.jpg

Given your budget and choice of equipment consider used or last years' models on some of these brands.

Paradigm Reference Studio 60s are quite nice but
the Energy Veritas 2.3s are a good step up from them with more bass, cleaner sound all around, but this would mean going with used speakers.

These have slightly less bass than the 100s but much cleaner sound. The original series had glue issues with the woofers' magnets, the i series fixed it by using bolt as well as glue (mine were covered under warranty and I had them replaced with the redesigned woofers).

Incredible dynamics, midrange and treble and very tight bass (2.3 series for front speakers are a great choice, front vented so you can practically push them up against the wall without many issues with the bass).

There are separate surrounds and center channel speakers for this one.

I cross mine over at 50 to a sub using a second order high pass and 4th order low pass. They can go considerably lower than 50 but you pay in distortion next to the sub (still low though, under 10% at 35 hertz at 90 decibels at 1 meter) and in power needs for the mains. This is true for just about any floorstanders less than about $6k a pair.

Also, Polk, Epos ELS (limited dynamic range though), JM Labs Focal Chorus, Von Schweikert all very good.