New room/ need new speakers

I have a small listening room and went the monitor route trying probably ten different speakers over the past two years. My favorites were the Acoustic Energy AE-300s closely followed by the Von Schweikert VR-1s. NHT SB-3s weren't bad either. I finally decided though that floorstand speakers don't really take up any more real estate than monitors on good stands and have settled on Meadowlark Sheawater Hot Rods. I think they sound wonderful and aren't overly imposing on the room. Also have the Kestrel Hot Rods which have a very different, but pleasing sound, and are even easier to place in the room. Good luck.

The your listening habits are probably the biggest factor. If the sweet spot is nearfield for you, and you listen at low levels, then you can use whatever you like. There are a plethora of good monitors that will suffice (I like the VR1 and NHT as well). If you like some distance and plan speaker placement relatively far apart, and like the big sound that a Marshall stack loaded with Celestion greenbacks would yeild no monitor will do it. In that case WAF or not you'll still need your floor standers especially for big musical bass (Subwoofers always sound like rumbling to me but supposedly fill out the sound, when properly adjusted). There are precious few big monitors that would be a compromise like the Dyne Audio special 25, or the Harbeths, but I don't like the polite sound of the Harbeths.

I have the B&W 602 S3's (on stands) with the matching sub. The combo does very well in my 13x20x10 living room. Great imaging, and can be driven hard. (Also used them in a skeleton HT set-up with good results.)

However, I actually am looking to sell because they present a real risk to my soon-to-be crawling/toddling daughter. Send me an email if interested.