OK Audiogon, help me out please

Justlance axpona will be on April 11 to 13. From Milwaukee to Scaumburg Illinois, it’s 1.5 to 2 hrs drive.Plenty of speakers you will be able to listen. Monitor Audio are not for everyone, they are good speakers. It looks like Sonus Faber are the right one for your sound preference.

11 x 11 is definitely an issue...an hour drive is quite short considering the money you are looking to spend...

@ justlance     11x11 and I'm guessing 8 foot ceiling max.  Any room treatments?  Carpet, bass traps, book cases or other diffusion/absorbation (especially at the 1st reflection points, heavy curtains for the window, a lot of furniture, etc.?  

A room that small, with no or minimal room treatment, could be the source of the harshness, as well as some boomy base.  So if you might want to look into that first.

And I agree with @dayglow, the MA 500 Gold's might be too big. The MA 300's (either Gold or Silver) might be better suited for the room.

And watch the used listings.  There are a lot of great speakers at your budget point.

With your other equipment, and in a room that size, I agree with deep_333. Check out the Mofi Point Source speakers if you can too.

Fritz carbon 7s.