Best small, desktop speakers, $500 or under (new or used)

The NHT sounds interesting. Their website suggests 100 wpc for amps and the speakers are 85 db. I have a 60 w amp but won’t be listening that loudly...hmmm. I have heard and like the Atoms. 

In both cases, these choices don’t seem all that much better than my Pinnacles. I was hoping for a next level speaker. Perhaps too much to ask. 

Hey, maybe you should keep the Pinnacles. You seem to like them. 

The pinnacle speakers are disappointing but they are not so terrible that I might not keep them for home theater surround. They are decent but not great. I am hoping that for focused and near-field listening I can do better with a newer speaker as described in the original post — but I don’t think I can do better if the replacement speaker is at or below the price-class of the pinnacle speakers. That is why I keep returning to them as a metric.

I own nht C1's and also kef q150s.  The nht's can be found less expensive than the link provided, just do a quick search.

I prefer the Kef's personally, but ymmv.