the answer to the origional question, "can anyone give me a list of some of the best speaker brands", should have been.....no. The question cannot be answered, because the list would just be individual opinions as to what constitutes "best". My 2 cents worth says if you want some good sound, start with the room you will be using. Small bookshelf type speakers will sound good in small bedrooms, i find high placement sounds good. For larger living rooms, you can go with larger speakers, but need to keep in mind how "live" the room is, for example if you have mostly hard surfaces, you will get echo sound bouncing all around, causing distortions and sound arriving at your ears at delayed times. If you have heavy carpets and curtains and furniture on the other hand, you may have a more "dead" room, that will absorb the reflections of sound. There can also be problems with peaks in bass response with any room, say around 80 hz, where it may get boomy. Look into room treatments if this is the case. Once you have decided on the room, i would encourage visiting audio shops and listening to different setups, different brands, ect. Try actual audio stores, you might be impressed as i have been, or surprised at what 20 thousand dollars will buy. No, i will never own something as expensive as that, but once you hear the magic, you will never forget it. I remember when i first heard ribbon speakers, nothing else like them, or as Theresa has said, Magnepan planar speakers are another brand that is like nothing else. Ribbon and magneplanar speakers are dipoles, they radiate sound to the front, and also to the rear. Currently i personally would like to audition Linkwitz Labs Orion speaker, it is a dipole. But my house does not have the room that would be needed to make these sound good. So for now, i have to be happy with box speakers.
