Best for the New Year,
I can give you a bit more personal insight to the Madison Speaker question. The three rules to purchasing these are application, application, and application.
IF you're looking at Madison, I would suggest the M3-215. The difference is the dual 6.5 mids. They simply sound much better. In my humble opinion, they keep the upper mids more where they should be and allow the 15's to soften-up and support the lower end freqs. I bought these more out of curiosity than anything else. I've owned JBL, Peavy, and some EV. They get used for Country and Southern Rock venues. They do take some EQ-ing, but once you get them dialed in, they are pretty decent sounding rigs. I have the matching subs as well. They provide adequate, but not heavy chest thumping bottom end for these applications. I've run these for a couple of pretty hefty jobs that I thought were really on the edge, but they performed well. I am using the QSC 2450's that came with them. If you're on a budget, and play to some upper limit, medium size rooms, these could be a viable option for you. They're tough with the exception of a slightly protruding toggle switch mounted on the rear panel. I made a protective piece to cover it. It's a wreck waiting to happen. No problems and lots of use. The best system I've ever owned, no. The best value for the sound? I'm leaning towards, I think so.
Pat