Best bookshelf speakers


I’m building my first high fi system after being more of a portable audio person. I want to start with the speakers. Space is limited so bookshelf speakers are a must.

Preferences:
Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth.
Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows
Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz
But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music
Smaller is better but SQ is most important
A speaker that sounds good with different amps but also scalable with high quality sources
Wide sweet spot - I wont have money for a great amp at first but want them to be scalable for later

These speakers have caught my eyes - any thoughts on them?

Ascend Sierra 2s - Ribbon = dispersion limitations?
BMR Philharmonitor - See above. Also massive.
Buchardt S400/S300 - Wary of the sudden hype train and limited info
Silverline Minuet Grande - Limited info
Reference 3A De Capo - This caught my eye as a potential endgame speaker if I could blow up my budget a little. But concerns about BE tweeter as well as some potential snake oil stuff (cryogenic treatment (!?)), exaggerated sensitivity claims and wonky measurements put me off.

What else should I be looking at?

Edit: I could have sworn I had <$2,000 in the title... Anyway, my budget is 2k.

stuff_jones
Taaw your arguement is totally flawed you don't think that a Chinese made product from a company that has built their own factory, has designed ever part together and has the financial resources to spend hundres  of thousands to millions of dollars can't make a better speaker than a guy in a garage using off the shelf parts?

It has nothing to do with margins, those companies can afford to build a product a much lower cost because they can produce in huge volumes which drives costs down which enables them to have money for marketing, service and support.

Listen to the Quad S or Z series monitors they will totally shock you for the level of sound quality for the dollar and Quad builds everything in house that includes the drivers, crossovers, cabinets even the binding posts are made by Quad.

You may have heard some big companies products that you didn't like but the reality is still the same, you just may not have heard a product from another big company that might have blown you away.

Go listen to the Quads they are incredible so incredible that they have been winning speaker of the year in Europe for the last few years and the new Kef R series are also rather good.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ







Has anyone here heard the Xavian Perla Exclusive? They've gotten several stellar reviews and look amazing. Price is around 2k shipped to the US, but no US dealers so a bit risky.
I'll second the Nola Boxers, they are excellent!

My first choice.... Omega Bookshelf Speakers and a SET amp for ultimate musicality.
recently purchased a demo pair of Monitor Audio Gold 100 for less than $2k. They are outstanding speakers in my opinion. I listen to a lot of acoustic music especially jazz. Not certain how they would sound in book case because they are rear ported. I listen to mine on Monitor Audio stands made for these speakers.
My Omega Super Alnico Monitor’s have very "honest" sound on classical music but a set amp doesn’t cut it on symphonic music .A 25 watt EL 34 amp does .