Bookshelf Recommendations

https://www.stereophile.com/content/wharfedale-diamond-225-loudspeaker Carrera4s, read the stereophile review of the wharfedale 225’s.....three different reviewers agreed that they were something special. One reviewer went back to test the bass frequency and said that he was astounded to find usable output at 31.5 hz! Footnote 2. That is crazy for a speaker of this size and cost. I own two pairs of these, one walnut and one rosewood (bought as an extra pair or back up) and I can attest to the build quality and to the sound. I can listen to these speakers all day long....they are addictive and non fatiguing. The bass port is on the bottom plinth, so you can place them close to wall. I have mine out 1 foot from rear wall to good effect. These speakers like toe in as well. I have them positioned so that I can just barely see the inside of each speaker. They are on 24 inch stands with tweeter at ear height when seated. Lastly these 225s love to be bi wired. Doing so really makes them shine. For $500 bucks I don’t think they can be beat. As stated in my previous reply....they imo can easily compare to $1000-$1500 stand mounters all day.....hurry, you can grab these for just $349 at music direct or crutchfield, a steal!
Forget the Diamond's modest price. This humble wooden box is actually a connoisseur-level audio component. It could satisfy any sane music collector for decades.
Herb Reichert 

Agree with Jim (tomic601), Vandy 1s would be perfect in your 12x12 room. I'm using Vandy 2s in an almost 14x14 room, with treatment, they are setup 9" from front wall, 7' apart (tweeter to tweeter), no toe-in, and listening seated head position is 2' from rear wall. No bass boom.
Hope this helps,

Tom

Paradigm Signature S1 version 2 or 3

Rega RS1's.  do not get the newer RX1's.  disappointing. 

I use a set of pre-owned KEF LS-50s on stands in a 15 foot squared room with 9 foot ceiling and while they won't ever convince you that they are full range; they do what they do really well; highly detailed and enjoyable music that is fun to listen to without physically dominated the room (spouse acceptance factor).  Don't be too quick to dump your solid state amplifier, I am a devotee of tubed pre-amps with a CJ Act 2 and solid state amplifier power with a CJ 2500 A.  I've had tubed amps in the system and it is too "tubey", meaning soft, a little slow and somewhat muffled compared to the tubed pre-amp, solid state amp combination.