New Speakers 1k

Anything by Triangle..

Triangles are a bit too bright, even to a fellow frenchman.
For around $1k I prefer the Spendor S3/1p or even the phenomenal SC3 centers turned sideways (think of them as S3/5 with a second mid/woofer, and thus 89 dB/w instead of 84! Too bad Spendor doesn't have the sense to market them as a left-right pair! At $1400/pr list I prefer them to the S3/1p somewhat as they seem faster. Cheers.

The S3/5 does work very nicely close to a rear wall. Its limited bass and lack of port gives a very nice bass response even when placed directly on the wall. I'm not sure you can beat it. I'm not sure if the harbeth is significantly better for the money but between the two I'm sure you'll find a winner.
Of course imaging dissapears as the rear wall gets close, which is too bad.

I have owned other Vandersteens and am very familiar with the 1c. Great sounding speakers but unfortunately not very good looking. Trying to replace them will be tough. I "replaced" my 2ce's with B&W DM602S2 but I didn't do this to get any improvement in sound and only use this system for background music most of the time. I do have the Spendor S3/5 in another system in a small room (they would not work in the larger room where I had the Vandy's).
I am also not sure whether an all tube amp would be the best choice for the Spendor, whereas the aforementioned B&W's need a tube amp to sound their best. There are not a lot of good looking speakers that can be placed close to a wall and still sound good. Good luck.

I have a MV 60 and prefer monitors. The Spendor 3/5 is fine, but you may find it bass shy. ProAc Tablet Reference 8s would be nicer than the Spendors – better midrange and imaging. Both will be big room sensitive. Used Signature 50’s would be idea, but probably not within your price range. I agree as to brightness of the Triangle. The new VonSchweikert was rather dull sounding, but that was a CES impression. Sonus Faber and new Quads are good choices. Silverline SR 12 is in your price range and a stretch to the SR 11 is a nice move up. Audes makes a nice sounding speaker, but I heard of possible QC problems. Anyone else hear this? Meadowlark Swift and Swallow love tube amps and have the same footprint if you used stands. And for something totally different, listen to one of the full range driver speakers. Start with omegaloudspeakers.com. Lewis makes a good product. They may be larger than you want, bu take a look. As you can see, there are too many options.