Small speakers...big sound??

You know... normally I don't do the whole "x3" bit, but I agree with the Mark and Daniel recommendations. Honestly... Those little Mini's / Mini+ monitors should work nicely in your situation.

Speaking from an objective point of view, I feel like the Mini's have a 'maturity' to their sound that is lacking in some of the other M&D models that I've heard. They do a lot of great things, and I wish more people knew about them.

Alas, there is a caveat worth mentioning.. These speakers consume rain forests for power. OK.. not really. But for casual to elevated listening volumes, I'd heavily encourage you to pair them with a power amp that is capable of dishing out a muscular 50wpc or more.

Otherwise, you should be good to go!

You might look for a used pair of the (long discontinued) Red Rose ribbon monitor. A shoebox with a midbass hump that sounds much bigger than you'd ever imagine. Not exactly neutral, but they might fit you needs

Marty

If you can wait until they hit the stores, the new GoldenEar Aon series, especially the $998/pair Aon 3, looks promising. It's not listed as a product yet on GoldenEar's website , but it's been showing up at shows. Here's a picture and description . I've heard the GoldenEar Triton 2, which shares the same folded ribbon tweeter (a much evolved Heil AMT-style driver) and the treble is extended and smooth and the drivers are exceptionally well integrated. GoldenEar claims usable bass down to 38 Hz on the Aon 3's.

Oops! I just remembered another approach which might work for you. What if you got some compact omnidirectional satellites and a couple of "stealth" subwoofers? I'm speaking specifically of the Mirage OMD-5 satellites. The OMD-5's were originally $750/pair but are available from Vanns.com for $340-400/pair. With an omnidirectional radiating pattern, they are very room-filling. I have the OMD-15 floorstanders which use the same mid and tweet, and they definitely fill up the listening space.

The OMD-5s work best with one or two subs as the satellites are only rated down to about 60 Hz. The MM8 sub is a 1200 w (peak) 9" cube made to sell at $799. I managed to score mine at $279 from Vann's at eBay but it looks like that sale is off. They're a great match, however, as they are extremely fast and blend easily with a 0-360 deg. continuous phase control. Or you might get a pair of OMD-5's and get a single sub from somewhere else, such as SVS.

At any rate, the omnidirectional dispersion pattern of the OMD-5s gives them a big advantage in being able to fill a room, or even a larger listening space such as an open architecture cathedral ceiling living space. The subs would fill out the bottom. Bear in mind that in spite of their $340/pair closeout price the OMD-5s were designed to compete at $750/pair and have that level of dynamics, transparency, and linearity.