Monitor speaker with the best bass at $500 used

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.

Rrog, I am going to walk over to the Bose store tomorrow and give them a listen. However, when your friend commented that the sound was "big" "relaxed" and excellent imaging, those words seem similar to the way members describe the Ohm/Walsh Talls (38 inches height)....omni directional. It is hard to believe Bose would create a product that is beyond mid-fi. I'll keep you posted.

Regarding, the Totems, even "used" they seem over priced, however the imaging and soundstaging are a marvel I have to confess, I only heard the Totem Hawks, but everytime they sounded great

To Ablang, I had a pair of Vandy IC's about 5-6 years ago. I enjoyed them, but did not think they were overachievers. At the time, I was driving them with an Aragon 4004 MKII amp (200RMS) and a Conrad Johnson PV8 pre-amp. From what I can remember, they sounded pleasant but a bit dull with a limited high-end.....I also had the misfortune of calling Mr Vandy himself about setting the the so-called "rake angle" of the speakers which must be precisely measured, and he berated me for 15 minutues for not reading the one page manual. Unfortunately the 1C are bigger than the Totem Arro, or Staff speakers, and would be awakward in my room along with my main speakers. Thanks