Speakers Needed: Audiophile Taste - Low Budget

Tesla II outstanding mids and a very handsome look. Fits into a lot of undesirable acoustic settings.

02pete,
I was using with my Vands Creek 4330R amp(45W/ch) and Marantz CD67SE player.
I felt that the bass isn't controlled but for the money spend the clarity and stage were incredible. If I would go for budget amp with greater power I would not think that it would improve the sound. Later-on I switched to Bryston 3b-st/Bryston 11b combination and realized that these speakers do benefit from power but stretching a budget for the "quality watts" is needed more than for "quantity watts"
I heard many times Vands 1c with tubes and the key thing of these speakers is musicality: soft bass(that actually never goes tight), clear highs but not bright and soft midrange and there is nothing you can do to make the bass tight on these speakers efen if you bring some 300W/ch amp.

The best upgrade for these speakers I would suggest getting a 2Wq subwoofer leaving the rest of your electronics unchanged

As for CD-players I would say that the maximum price point where you should look for it is arround $1k but not more for the new piece and used arround $500.

To finalize I can say that Vandys 1C or 1B are truly be champions on budget or beginers setups.

Although more than you'd like to spend, the Meadowlark 'Swift' at a $1000/pair would be a great combo with the Sony.Meadowlark also makes a bookshelf speaker, the 'Swallow' which is the Swift with less low end, for $800. But, then you buy stands and your at or over the cost of the floorstanding Swift speaker.

The Meadowlarks can be had in some beautiful real wood veneers. Being a new speaker on the market, the chances of finding a used pair are rather slim though.

My other suggestion would be the Vandy '1C'. Another good match for bright sounding equiptment.

Most of the other suggestions are nothing more than audiophile speakers,hence, your typical spit and s--- speakers, that you'll grow tried of very soon.