Small Room, Move Often, Speaker Suggestions.

I second jg41's recommendation for the Totem Arro's, and compared to the other speakers in your list, you could save significant dough. They're somewhat on the lean side of reality, but I would think that they'd be a perfect match for your Mistral. I'm using a Linn Classik and the Linn is a tad thin and dry in the midrange, so I'm looking for some speaker cables to fatten things up a bit (I'm using Linn cables right now).

What the Arro's do spectacularly well is in the area of detail, imaging and soundstaging. It's the first time I've experienced the soundstage extending dramatically to the left and right of the speakers, and the depth is great.

No, they don't come up to the absolute standard of my Pro Ac Response 3.5's, but they come closer in sound quality than any speaker one seventh the price has a right to.

For what it's worth, they're also highly recommended by Harry Pearson.

Good luck!
Steve

Danheather:

My current source is the top of the line Onkyo DVD (single disc, I don't remember the model #, and I'm at work now), but I will be up-grading soon to either a Niam CDX or a ECM I MK II for digital. For analog I have a Thorens TD-520 nicely set-up with arm & MC cartridge, with a seperate Rega FONO stage.

My music tastes change with my mood. Best guess is 35% Blues Guitar (Clapton, SR Vaughn, Bloomfield, Buchanan), 40% Classical (piano, string quartet), and 25% "Classic" Rock (Pink Floyd, Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Janis Joplin, etc.)

Yes, this will be for music only. The Onkyo, Carver Cinema Grand, Carver subs, and Def Techs will be relagated to TV and HT use. By the way, the Def Techs (BP-30 front, BP-10 rear and a matched BP center) are IMHO excellent for HT, but I find them a little bright for music and tough to set-up in a small room.

My budget? Good question. I find that if I make sacrifices (even small ones) to save a little money, I end up spending more. Very soon I become dissatisfied and buy what I should have bought, the first time around. Fortunatly, I am gainfully employed and do not have any other significant bills, so I am able to indulge one hobby at a time. This time it is quality audio. Next time maybe it will be quality women, who knows?

Dave

Try the lothx amaze.A single driver unit that weighs no more than 20lbs.No crossover and would mate well with the mistral as they are 96db sensitive.Don't require a heavy stand.
Smooth,airy and quick.
visit www.lothx.com for more info.
good luck

APV: What is the price (US) of the Amaze?

Overall, if you know your likely to be in smallish rooms in general, that are pretty rectangular and/or sealed off acoustically from the likes of hallway's, oppenings, other room connnections, etc, you should probably consider a sealed box speaker (as opposed to base reflex ported) with less bass extension! The smaller room is going to give you a bit of bass boost overall anyway, as opposed to likely possitioning in a larger room. Plus, what I've noticed from installing systems in small rooms over the years, is that it's much harder to get the speakers that play lower(usually ported) to have reasonably flat frequency response from any practical seating/speaker placement possition! The bass modes are just too steep and packed up in those rooms to get natural (non boomy/peaky/dippy) sound in small rooms usually(occasional exceptions from room to room of course).
Overall, you'll still have to play around with placement of things, and use careful consideration, if you want anything resembling good sound(especially in small rooms..especially).
May I consider something like, yes, the Spenders, or even better, the Merlin TSM-M's!!! AT around $2500 retail, they're impossible to beat! They're a sealed enclosure, and play down to about 50Hz +/-3 annechoically. In a small room, they do about 40hz realistically!(plenty low trust me) And you can augment with sub if you ever needed to.
They truely are world class, approaching (if not there) Solid Class A performance, and are an easy 87db to drive.(I think 8 ohms).
If you noticed, a lot of the high end rooms at CES show were using Merlins(TSM'm's or VSM'M's for their demo's!!!...and it's been this way for several years now!)
Anyway, it's a thought.
I used to use some very very very good Sonus Faber Electa Amator's and Minima Amator's($5k and $3k respectively), and these Merlins are better!!...and much better for small room acoustics in general, that's for darn sure.
Also, the Merlins can do tube gear or Solid state...My Electa's and Minima's only did SS well.
Good luck