Acoustic Energy Aegis vs. Monitor Audio Bronze

No experience with the AE or Monitor Audio. Have you considered the Wharefedale Diamonds (8 series) or Pacific series? I am very happy with the 8.1 Diamonds (mated with a refurbished Marantz 2216 receiver & Yamaha 393 CD player). Prefer their sound to other British monitors that I own that I actually used with the same set-up (EPOS 11; B&W 302). The website is www.iagamerica.com.

Have a pair of Monitor Bronze 2's hooked into a NAD L40/C270 combo in the wife's system - very respectable sound for the dollar. Bass is tight but not very low so a sub will be in order especially for HT.

Not sure either of your choices is of the same level of quality as your other gear seems to be. Might I suggest a better pair of mains as your focus is 90% music and spend less on the remaining speakers for HT application...

Thanks Rar1 -- had not considered the Wharefdale's, but will see if I can find a place in NYC to give them a listen.

RGD, sounds like a reasonable suggestion -- your thoughts on a good set of mains for that system would be much appreciated. For some reason, I took a liking to the AE's and started down that path, but maybe that is not the best path for my needs.

FYI, my upstairs system is a Classe CAP-150 integrated, an Arcam FMJ CD-23, and a pair of Joseph Audio RM22si's connected with Harmonic Tech cables all around. I don't expect the downstairs system(obviously) to match upstairs, but wanted something that was nice and represented pretty good value for music and would not do a bad job with movies.

Gheon - I wonder just how long that 9000 ES player will stay downstairs when you get into SACD....

As there is no published budget amount to work with but obviously you are looking to in the $1K-$1.5K range I might suggest you look into the Tyler home theater set-up - everything for $1500. Ty Lashbrook makes a great product using drivers that you would find in considerably much more expensive speakers and is a great person to deal with. You are not paying for the marketing and middleman with his offerings. I can tell you that I adore my Taylo Reference monitors from Tyler and feel that his products would be a good match for your ancilliary gear. While I find the Marantz receivers to be "warmer" sounding than Yamahas, etc. I could imagine that a speaker like PSB and Paradigms might be fatiguing after a while but still could be considered as offering a great value. If it were a primarily HT system then there are many more choices out there but as your preference is 90% music where I assume you want the subtle nuances, etc. I think the Tyler speakers would mate well. I am sure you will get many other great suggestions and wish you luck in your odyssey...