Best budget speakers for near-field/small space

I owned a pair of Swan M200 a few years ago and I cannot really recommend them. They look nicer than they sound. I found them to be rather muffled like a blanket was hanging over them. I was giving them a pretty good source to playback at the time-- Jolida JD100.

I just set up a pair of Canadian Kantos i pair 5 active speakers tonight in my small office room. Look rather like the Audioengine 5's, but lovely black gloss finish on them. Right out of the box they have a great big sound....I used to have my Bose Soundock in there - wow what a difference! These are designed to work with an ipod and have a dock on top of the left speaker. They also have some aux outputs and can be used with an airport express. Under $400.

Look for a pair of Spica T-50's on here. Great midrange with bass response down to 30hz in a small speaker and won't bust the bank. Another thing to look at would be a set of JBL monitor's. These are the standard for recording engineers in the studio who are mixing the music you are listening to.

I struggled quite a bit with my nearfield system thinking the speakers were the weak link (Krix Equinox book shelves driven by Rotel pre/power with Mac Pro as the source). The imaging was bad, and they seemed to get overwhelmed easily by "denser" music. When I added an outboard DAC (Little Dot DAC I) all the flaws I attributed to the speakers disappeared. Imaging is now fabulous, and the music is so much tighter and more focused. I really didn't think the DAC would make that much of a difference, but it is huge. And the price for the DAC I got is comparatively low. FWIW, I'm very happy with the Equinox speakers in this setup. Here is my full write up:
http://fuze-zone.com/forum/index.php?topic=182.0

I highly recommend a small class D digital integrated like Trends TA-10.1/10.2, Virtue Audio One, or Nuforce Icon in your case. Head and shoulders above NAD C320BEE/340/350, Arcam D290, I've owned. Depth, liquidity, richness, balance are much better. Can't speak for the Nuforce, but I've had 2 Trends, a Virtue Two, and a Sonic Impact Super T. Maybe not for big, dynamic, hard rock, but definitely for jazz, classical, acoustic, vocal-centric type music these little class D amps are incredible bang for the buck. The Virtue came very close, and in some ways was more enjoyable than, the MSRP $1500 Classe CAP-101 that replaced it. If not for the speed, slightly more inner detail, multiple inputs, and remote, it might've been the Classe that went.

I also recommend getting a good amp before settling on a speaker. This might go against "conventional wisdom" as speakers are the most significant contributor to shaping the sound of your system, but from my experience a great speaker can sound absolutely horrid with a bad amp whereas I feel a great amp doesn't really sound bad with a bad speaker, but just doesn't open up to its potential.

As far as budget speakers go, I have a pair of Energy RC-10s which are excellent and very smooth with great imaging and texture. I had B&W DM601 S2 and S3s in my second system prior to these, and the Energys were a revelation. These are one of those speakers whose performance depends greatly on what they're fed. They actually belonged to my dad, and when I gave him my Sonus Faber Concertinos, I took the RC-10s to sell them because I didn't think they sounded that great when he was running them with an Adcom GTP-500II, but when I plugged them into my Trends TA-10.1 I was floored by how the sound was transformed. Selling the B&Ws was then a no-brainer.

Once you get some good amplification, I recommend you give the Wharfedales another go around. I had the Diamond 9.6 floorstanders and found their imaging, midrange detail, and easy sound pretty enjoyable, though a bit too polite and unengaging for me.

You may also want to check out the the Usher S-520. I haven't heard them myself, but they are a very popular and highly praised budget choice. The sound is apparently more jaggressive and "hot" up top than the 2 aforementioned speakers, but it would be good to see if that type of sound better aligns with your tastes. I have the Usher BE-718s and they are absolutely stellar.

Don't forget the DAC. I think the source is often overlooked by people relatively new to this game. If you have a quality source you can't have a quality product. One DAC I can't praise highly enough is the MHDT Paradisea or Paradisea+ tube DAC. The + has USB -- not sure if your Mac has a digital audio output, but if it does it would be better to use that instead of the USB. These usually run about low $300s to mid $400s used, depending on + or original. If you can stretch your budget it's totally worth it. Very musical, emotive, and coherent.

I've had a Scott Nixon USB Chibi, which was a fine and balanced piece, but nowhere near the level of the Paradisea, albeit significantly less money (~$150). I also had an MSB Link III, which has good detail and soundstage accuracy, but a little too forward and edgy for me.

Also look into cables. They certainly and noticeably affect and shape the sound of your system, but they are more like fine-tuning and finishing touches. With a $1k budget I wouldn't put more than $100 into these. Speaker cables > interconnects > power cords. That's my opinion. General consensus is copper = smooth/dull while silver = revealing/harsh. I've found this to be the case.

I would leave the sub as the last addition.

Oh, and I agree with matthewm about the Swans M200. I've owned them, and if you have $1k to spend on a system, you are much better off doing that. You can't have it all in $300 active monitor -- far from it. They are better than the computer audio junk (Logitech, Klipsch, Altec Lansing, Cambridge Soundworks, etc), though.

Again, all my opinion. Good luck putting together your system. It'll be fun to experience the changes in sound as you add/swap stuff!

What kinda cans have you been listening to BTW? I remember the first time I listened to a pair of Grado SR-80s when the next best thing I'd heard were $50 Sony earbuds. Boy was that ear-opening!