Aloha, wishing you all a happy and safe Christmas (or other) shopping journey.

Found some cool-ish items I thought I'd mention in case y'all need any ideas.

I am having difficulty with several non-audiophiles that I would like to get gifts for, so any input from you folks would be great!

CD's:

Ok, ok, I know this is probably getting old but let's give it a swing. Let's make it fun and any genre is open to election.

Allison Krauss and Union Station- Beacon Theater

Elvis Costello and the Impostors-Beacon Theater

Antony and the Johnsons- Carnegie Hall

The Decemberists- Webster Hall

The New Pornographers- Maxwell

I have a pair of mint 25 year old Large Advent speakers. I have read that the foam surrounds on these speakers deteriorate with age. How can I tell if my speakers need new surrounds? They look fine and I play them infrequently, but when I do they sound like the day I got them. Any help would be appreciated.

I am seeking simplicity. All the boxes and wires are driving me nuts. Ideally Linn would make a version of the Classik beefed up in the power (120 watts or more) and stripped of all the non-essential features (radio, timer, multi-room, light dimmer switch, toaster oven...). Lacking that, I see two options in a two-box system - note, this would be purely audio, and does not need to connect to TVs or other sources:

(1) a cd player with an integrated amp, or

I listen to all kind of music (except hard rock, metal, trans)
Specially I like classical music, piano, violin, Beethoven, symphonies and I like it sounds emotional so my speakers should tend to classical music more.
I dont think I can buy a speaker just by going to show rooms and listen. For me, it takes long time to feel the quality. Thats is why I will buy speakers based on other people well explained opinions.
I have 4000$ for speakers and 4000$ for amplifier.
Do you know Dynaudio 25 and SF Cremona Auditor ?