@bananaslug have you considered the
Dynaudio Special Forty ?They're know to
...put out what its fed, play well, and basically disappear
Combined with a sub of your choice you can easily stay under $5K
@ditusa I'm afraid you're incorrect.
minimonitors minisound ALL minimonitors are cutoff @70hz try a pair jbl 4425 monitors I run the jbl with quick silver amps same power as the vac amp cut off @ 40hz
Most mini monitors go well below 70hz. I've measured them myself and found even the affordable Paradigm 20 studio monitors go down to 32hz. Granted they may be down 6db or so at that frequency it's still audible and they were flat to 48hz. My Revel and B&W stand mount/monitors easily do the same.
The OP's VAC Renaissance 70-70 specs pretty good for low frequencies.
Power Output:
65 watts continuous average power at 1 kHz with less than 2% THD into 4 ohms connected to the 4-8 ohm tap
Distortion:
0.12 % THD at 10 watts
Frequency Response:
down 0.5 dB at 6 Hz and 90 kHz, ref 0 dB = 1 watt @ 1 kHz
down 3.0 dB at 2 Hz and 103 kHz, ref 0 dB = 1 watt @ 1 kHz
Power Bandwidth:
down 0.5 dB at 12 Hz and 58 kHz
down 3.0 dB at 8 Hz and 85 kHz