Bookshelf Speakers with “Big” sound?

I would also take a look at the Dynaudio Focus and Contour series great with all kinds of music and excellent reputation and reviews to boot.

06-11-09: Rbschauman
A few of you asked about placement; yes, they will be on stands to “clear” furniture obstruction (and therefore the pursuit of monitors). Floor-standers would be partially “blocked” by furniture.

But there are also 2-way floorstanders where the drivers are at the top, and would be above any furniture, just as if they were minimonitors on stands. The difference is that the woofers in these configurations benefit from the larger cabinet to improve sensitivity and bass extension. They take up no more space than monitors on stands, while filling large living areas more easily.

Examples include the Totem Arro, Sttaf, Hawk, and Forest, the Acoustic Zen Adagio, Silverline Prelude, Wharfedale Diamond 9.4, Zu Presence, Essence, and Druid, Thiel 1.6, KEF XQ30 and IQ50, Tannoy Revolution DC4 T, B&W 684, and many others. The Merlin VSM is also of that configuration but is quite a bit pricier. But there are used ones. The Acoustic Zen Adagio lists at about $4500 but can often be found at around your budget.

Dynaudio Special 25's. They need some power though.

Check out Fritz Speakers -- specifically the Carbon 7s. Top of the line drivers at cost well within your budget.

www.fritzspeakers.com

There are some "informal" reviews at audiocircle. You can search as well here on audiogon. Great guy, who will go out of his way to build what you want.

the two that come to mind are the von schweikert vr1 (easily available used for around $500) and the acoustic energy line (ae1, 2 etc.). both of these have tremendous slam for their size and none of the boxiness or narrow soundstage you might expect from monitors.