Monitor speaker with the best bass at $500 used

How about nht 2 ?

Rrog, Thanks for the heads up about the Bose 301; but I had my Bose moment in 1971 when I bought a pair of the original 501( two back firing tweeters and a ten inch woofer.) The low end from this speaker was the best I heard at the time, and overall I enjoyed them. But I will check them out the 301's, if you claim your friend replaced his Maggie's 1.7

I had a good shot at a pair of Totem Staff's, and Talisman, but they have disappeared from the Totem sale inventory with 30 days left on the ad. Either some member has got a "jones" for Totem, or Agon is screwing up. So I ask GON Central to trace VR-1's and the two Totems
to see if they were officially sold.

Todd thanks for the recommendation, but I never was a fan NHT;.....

SACman's I will check out e-bay for a pair of B&W 685, there are currently none for sale on Agon.

Sunnyjim, I have decided to check out the 301s also. I have to find out for myself since there has been so much controvercy about Bose in general. My friend says the bass is insanely good and the speaker presents a big relaxed sound with excellent imaging. They play loud with ease and the speakers are responding well to every system improvement. If the results are as good as I think they will be I am going to write a review.

I'm not a big fan of Totem although my experience is with the Model One. It requires a great deal of high quality power to become balanced. If you are a late night lower volume listener the sound would be lean.

The Vandersteen 1C or 1Ci would fit your budget and requirements and save the cost of stands. I recommend it because I went through monitors from Spendor (S3/5), Totem (Model 1), and Dynaudio (Focus 110 and 140) as well as auditioning ProAc, B&W, other Totem models, etc.--anyhow, I finally realized those tiny boxes just couldn't lay down a realistic foundation for the bottom end when listening to rock and even jazz.

You need to be able to sit a minimum of 7 feet from the Vandies for the drivers to integrate, but that's my only caveat if yours is a small room. Bass guitar and kick drum have real impact, and the bottom end is tight. They're not as tight or deep as the 2CE Sig II (which I used to own) but beat all the monitors I mentioned.