I've lived in an apartment for 6 years or so and have had my Coincident Super Eclipse Series II for about 5 years. I use a SET amp with a BAT VK-50SE preamp. The Super's are not small, but they are narrow and don't dominate the room. They provide more bass than stand-mounted speakers and look nicer.
I know all about apartment living - like when you are unlucky enough to get neighbours with a nasty boom box + sub system and all you can hear is the thumping bass. They didn't stay long.
My apartment is old so the walls are pretty solid and the current neighbours are quiet.
What you need, though, is a system that sounds good at low levels. It's my opinion that an efficient speaker does this better. If you are going to get an efficient speaker you may as well get one that presents a benign impedance load - and now you have the right transducer for single ended triodes.
I compensate for the lack of punch and volume I can have with beautiful tone, easy listening at all levels, and that extra magic that SET adds.
A lot of stand-mounted monitors are inefficient and need some volume to get going, and that's not what you can do in an apartment.
Just one person's opinion.
Regards,
