Thanks, everybody, for the responses. Some very useful recommendations here. Some of these speakers would be a bit difficult to audition (for example, the only Merlin dealer anywhere near me is some hundreds of miles away in Southern California). I want to stress that one of the things I particularly like about my ProAcs, apart from their very accurate stereo imaging, is their inherent musicality. It's just that with my system and my room, the Response 1SCs are a bit shrill. Anybody had experience with ProAc Response D2? Larger drivers, but not sure how the sound differs. Looks like these may still be a current model.