looking for performance speaker recommendations

Tip, hang speakers upside down so that the tweeters are on the bottom, angled down towards you. The closer to the height of the TV for the fronts, the better as noted above.

Here are some good choices for complete systems:

Epos AVS 5.1 System - Wow!

Quad L-lite - WOW!!

KEF KHT2005.3 - either stunning or funny egg shapes, depending on your taste - but great sound.

Aperion Intimus 5B Harmony SD - great sounding two-way boxes from the Internet!

Mirage MX 5.1 - Omni present sound.

Definitive Technology ProCinema 800 - great for movies, not quite up with others for music

B&W MT20 - will look and sound good in your groovy modern pad (buy the MT30 if can find used for your price - has better sub)

ACOUSTIC ENERGY AEGO T - Best Buy in many comparos

thanks for the responses thus far. i will take as many as i can get. this will give me grounds to do some research.

Elevick, to answer your questions: speakers will not have to be completely against wall, so rear port should be okay, but something to consider so thanks for pointing that out. sorry i did not mention that i plan to use a projector for the display. because of the large screen, speakers mounted high will still be close to screen height. and by performance, i mean accurate, musical, dynamic, etc.

Yes, I assumed you would use some sort of mounting brackets with swivel to dial in the sound stage. (rear ports not a problem)

If you have a fairly large room, and want to go 7.1, the (Enthusiast 3) system at $1,599 should do great.

You need a good balance between picture size, and sound size. A small television with huge sound doesn't work...a huge picture with small sound equally doesn't work....in other words, the sound impact should match the picture impact.

Dave

these systems look great! keep 'em coming! i like the systems from epos, quad, aperion, hsu (though not a fan of horns)... and might add the svs s-series and the less expensive energy take classic series to the mix.

would really love to see some larger 2-way systems and larger subs though. looking for something a bit beyond home-theater-in-a-box, although I have not heard many of these and I'm sure they sound really great.

would like to see some systems that use something along the lines of higher-end monitors that are common on the used market and can be found affordably.

Here are some more ideas for larger and more expensive bookshelf speakers systems. All of these manufacturers make serviceable to very good subs and center speakers to go with these great bookshelf systems. If the price new is too steep, look for them used online.

Check out Totem's website and then see if you can find some of their gear used. Stunning build and sound...

http://www.totemacoustic.com/products/home_theater/

B&W 600 and CM series:

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=2375&sc=ht

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=816&sc=ht

System based on used Dynaudio Audience 42

http://dynaudio.com/eng/archive/lines/audience/audience42.php

Epos system based on the new ELS8

http://www.epos-acoustics.com/products/els8.php

System based on Focal Chorus 705V and 706V

http://www.focal-fr.com/

System based on the Monitor Audio BR2

http://www.monitoraudiousa.com/products/bronze-br/br2/your-speaker

System based on the Paradigm's latest Monitor series

http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/fronts-monitor-series-1-2-4.paradigm

System based on PSB Image series

http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Image-Series

Quad system based on the larger 11L and 12L - these speakers have Steinway piano-like finishes and sound to go with it

http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/ranges.php?sector_id=2&range_id=11

Good luck