I recently purchased Dynaudio Heritage Special’s with the Stand 20. I previously had ProAc D48R… I moved to a smaller place, so I had to scale down. I think the Heritage are every bit as good as the big ProAc’s Don’t know if you can find a set but you won’t be let down
That seems like a very good approach…I’ve got Allaes at the moment, they would be pretty easy to transport to a number of local dealers which would have the same pre/power setup I have at home. At least a good approach to narrow down more accurately before home demo.
Imho…
Step 1 is of course to live somewhere with great dealers close by. This may be tricky to arrange now of course…
Step 2 is to go to at least 1 dealer to hear and see a few options. If they don’t have the same amplification you use at home, take your own and give it a few minutes to warm up before listening - and stick to music that you know.
I assume for now that the dealers won’t have your current speakers . In that case, if you can take your current speakers to the dealers so that you can hear how different the new candidates actually sound, it’s a good plan.
Step 3. Make a shortlist of at most 3 candidates to try in your own home. Try changing toe-in or how far they are from walls to get each at their best. Listening to all on the same day is a help - auditory memory is not great ( or at least mine isn’t).
Step 4. General impressions may be all you need. However, some specific questions can help you stay on track. For me, that would mean checking stereo image on a couple of songs I know well, whether The Rite of Spring is too confusing for my poor ears, listening for sibilance from Margot Timmins or June Tabor, checking if I can keep my feet still on some top boogie tunes and whether lyrics have got a bit easier to hear than usual, how the bass notes sound on JSB’s Toccata on an organ and that sort of thing, but your list won’t be mine.
If you do go for specific items like that, wrote the questions down and add answers, however subjective, as you try the different speakers.
If dealers are not perfect or you plan to buy older speakers on eBay, don’t panic! Flagrantly taking advantage of mates who can bring over their speakers (or let you take your boxes to their house to hear through their speakers as a less- good Plan B) is a great plan. If you have no suitable friends, where you live may be important -many kind souls on this site may be just a few miles away and some may be happy to let you hear their speakers or otherwise be helpful.
I know that this all sounds like a lot of effort and a fair amount of shifting boxes, but spending £4K wisely, and getting speakers that may last for the next 20 or 30 years, are surely good reasons to make the effort.
Good luck!
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@NickofWimbledon Thanks for taking the time Nick, great advice. I’d never thought of taking my own speakers to the dealers until you and IB mentioned it. 
The suggestion may just show that some of us are easily swayed by a dealer saying that some box or other is pretty much the same as what we have, and have learned not to believe them. As someone wise said, experience is the name we give our mistakes.
Having said that, I was happy transporting Heybrook HB1s, Rega ELAs and Shahinan Compasses in a car boot. I am not sure I’d try that with my B&W 804D3s or anything really huge.
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I’ve done it with IMF RSPMs - which are on the substantial side, as the weight indicated in my earlier post- but I do have a car with hatchback and seats folding to become a flat floor. One dealer where I took them for an amp demo in about 1991 remembered me, or rather the speakers, the next time I visited 25 years later! They didn’t bat an eyelid in my presence, but I guess the air was blue after I left on both occasions, staff having carried upstairs to demo room…
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+1 for Neat Explorers
What about the Klipsch Heresy IV ? I’ve read nothing but good reviews and they’re designed to sit against the wall. Granted I haven’t heard them but do think they look wonderful.
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They look great Neil!
I’ll be going for the mahogany finish if I purchase.
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Experiment with toe-in and placement. For my D2R’s I have them toed-in so I can barely see the interior sidewalls.
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Thanks… shall do!
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Congratulations!
Lots of fun for the next several days listening to your favorite albums. I look forward to reading your feedback on the speakers.
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Good choice. I didn’t find anything in the same league in the same price bracket (and that was up to £5k).
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I can appreciate that SL2s or any other naim ‘boundary’ speaker would be fairly compromised in such a room.
But maybe consider relocating the furniture to allow more space around the speakers, and definitely a need to upgrade the open fireplace to a wood-burning stove 
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They look really good in situ. I have always found new speakers sound better when I got them home than I thought they did in the shop. I hope you enjoy them.
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Unfortunately no options on furniture… but Proacs doing nicely! 
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Thanks. They’ll look even better when I get the mahogany finish. 
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I second this. If you really have to place close to a wall, you need a speaker designed to do that. I love my Harbeths, but I wouldn’t place them too close to the front wall, despite being front ported. On the other hand, I have a pair of (rare) Russ Andrews Quave LS-1 (which I must put on Ebay, now I’m thinking about it, as they’re no longer in use) which are designed to sit very close to the wall. In fact, in the corners, ideally, just like Audio Note. They are a hexagonal quarter wave design and sound too thin and bass light where one would place ‘normal’ speakers, but exceptional in room corners. We can’t use them in our current room as it has doorways in two of the corners and a partition wall on one side and masonry on the other, but if you’re in a room which is suitable they are great.
I think the Proacs will be staying… (well, new ones ordered etc!). They sound great…
Again, as with the focal 926, the improvement when placing them on the granite chopping boards and Naim spike cups is noticeable. I have a carpeted wooden floor, over quite a big void.
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