Best Two-Way Monitor Speakers under $700 New/Used

Mechans: Not at all. OP should have stated that if it was the requirement to have "Monitor Brand" product. Altec A7 is/was a monitor. Not small. I even had an opportunity to try and pitch a large Electro Voice to the Boston Symphony Orchestra about 1971, and sold some Altec 604s with cabinets to the Christian Science Publishing Company about the same time. So, size is not necessarily the defining factor, and not necessarily small either.

Gvsale: Since the OP mentioned that the user wanted something that would
blend into his decor and color scheme, preferably in espresso or black, and that
he would be placing the speakers on stands, I think that cleared up which use of
"monitor" we were talking about right from the start--a 2-way
stand-mounted speaker--the modern equivalent of a bookshelf speaker. Your
sweeping overview of all uses of monitor regarding playback transducers this
late into the thread is obviously not to clarify anything, but rather to give us a
history lesson and impress us with the circles you ran in 40 years ago.

Johnnyb53: Then I'm sorry for giving the impression, but then why does someone want to dress up the word "bookshelf" with the shiney "monitor" and make it seem that the term "misleading" has no validity? Is marketing the only thing that has value? In other words, any speaker maker now uses the words "monitor" and now that magicaly transforms what could be the most miserable drek into the "cats meow?"

Not considering the color, Tyler reference monitor would be a good choice. Sold used in audiogon at around $700. It is called monitor, but a bit larger than usual bookshelf speakers.

Gvasale: The use of the term, "bookshelf," has fallen out of use
because these smaller speakers are no longer designed or marketed as
bookshelf speakers. I.e., they are not designed or intended to be placed on
bookshelves.

Bookshelf speakers are usually oriented for horizontal placement and have a
sealed or front-ported enclosure. The speakers of the OP have neither
restriction; many stand-mounted speakers now have rear-firing ports to get
more back wall bass reinforcement but they won't work that way if placed on
bookshelves.

Technically one might refer to the speakers under discussion as a
"compact stand-mounted speaker," but that's four words and
seven syllables when in most cases "mini-monitor" or
"monitor" will suffice. There's not a word in the English language
that has only one meaning. Nor do meanings of words remain static through
the decades. Your strict definition of "monitor" was already
weakening by the '70s, four decades ago. The finer meaning of a word is
determined by context, and the OP was plenty clear on this: small, stand-
mounted, must be available in espresso or gloss black and fit with modern
decor. I think we can safely leave 140-lb. battleship grey Altec A-7s out of the
discussion.