College student stuck w/ bad speakers: advise pls


The more suggestions the better. The used market is only so large, so many I won't be able to try, but thanks in advance for your consideration of me, I truly appreciate it.

First, I'm not a seasoned pro or anything, but I appreciate good audio, especially live and have heard exceptional PA systems from Radiohead live, other bands in Millennium Park, live Chicago symphony, a pretty incredible new sound system inside my wood church (essentially a cathedral), another new system in another new church, etc.

I need a bookshelf speaker for my office to replace the wretched Paradigm Atom V3s I bought. I have an HK3480 and Polk R50s at home. No, the Polks aren't great, but I never said they were. All right, unimpressive right? I set up a MA S2 / Teac stereo for a friend last year and it was pretty incredible sounding to me.

OKOK the Paradigms are decent, but don't image or present a wide soundstage enough. They're way too laid back and I need a forward sound. Should I splurge on the Linn Tukans? I don't care if it's used, but it has to be below $375 shipped. I'm considering Energy RC-10's. Will I be completely disappointed with those? I only have a 30 WPC Teac DR-L700 with some famous Class D amp or something. It's decent and I liked a Teac CRH-227 with Monitor Audio S2s. I really don't think the problem is the amp, the speakers aren't what I'm used to. I could goto Saturday Audio in Chicago some weekend easily, and check out the MA equipment. Please advise. Thank you!

P.S. The speakers need to be able to play Radiohead. Bass doesn't matter as much as realism, soundstage, and imaging.

P.P.S. I'm a little bit skeptical of the laid-back attitude of B&W. Klipsch, Bose, Polk are out of the question. Dynaudio is way out of budget. The rest I can't easily audition here. I may bid on some Linn Tukans or else the Energy RC-10 I can get for $300 with a strong return policy, thoughts?
ferrariguru
If there's a "strong" return policy, I would try one these spks. out first and see if they work for you. I would make sure they are effecient spks. (say 91db 1w. and an easy load for your amp., 6-8 ohm also.) Every 3db is like having an amp twice the wattage. Good Luck!
If you think the Paradigms are too laid back, I would stay away from the Linns.
Listen to the PSB speakers. They are $279 (cheaper from Audio Advisor as demo's). The matching sub is about $200. I bought this setup for my daughter, and I am very impressed with it. They do not require much power.
The Energy RC-10 are great speakers, but I don't know if their soundstaging and imaging would be all that much better than your Paradigm. You might want to check out some Ascend CBM-170s. Soundstage has a good review on them.