speaker suggestions for modest arcam alpha system

Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 are $328 direct from Ascend. This includes shipping. They would cost $1,000+ if sold at a dealer and in a nice wood veneer. The sound is neither low-end or modest. Worthy competition to the B&W speakers. Their only fault was that they were a bit etched to me and I think the Arcam would be a great match to tame them down a bit.

Check out the Dali bookshelf spks. on www.canadianhifi.com They also list a used pr. of ATC bookshelf spk. for around $650. For floorstanders one dealer is advertising some new Morel's for $849. Personally I haven't heard them, but they seem quite an interesting design w/the dome midrange. (Asking $ seems a little too high, IMO.) Many yrs. ago had an Alpha 10 int. amp w/ some B&W's DM-640's which sounded pretty good. Lots of possibilities! Good Luck!

Mark:

The Thiel CS.5's are floor standers, and you don't absolutely need a subwoofer with them. My father-in-law has a pair with no sub, and he loves them. But for many of the speakers in your price range, if you want detail, tonal balance, good imaging and soundstage, you probably won't get that AND great low end output without a sub. You can get good low end, but usually at the expense of something else (in that price range, that is). Plus, most of the speakers that are going to fit your room well are going to be on the smaller side.

I'm not sure if the ProAc/Arcam match-up is due to them both being British, but I would think that this is part of why they work so well togehter. For kicks, if not for sonic reasons, I am setting up my office system to be all British, while my home system is all American.

Tom.

For a while I've been contemplating a mini system. Choosing speakers is confusing /difficult.-- There are so many small book-shelf speakers new and used; it's a chore to separate 'claims' from opinions, from reality. Seems everybody's monitors sound like Wilson X1's for 3/6 hundred ?? (Read GMA Europa;Whorfdale 8.2 VSM--on and on.)

Tom,
yeah i learned a bit more about Thiel after my second post...one concern I came up with about the Thiel is that its rated at four ohms, which i believe will make my Alpha 9 integrated work pretty hard, and the amp tends to timeout when it gets hot...(am i completly off base?)(would a powered sub alleviate some of this with it's own internal amplification?) (i have read that the Alpha 9 biamped system alleviates this problem)

Tom, could you update this post when you get your ProAc/Arcam system dialed in?....they are the speaker i am kind of leaning towards (but price could be a problem)

the Ascend Acoustics have been recommended to me before and seem to have a loyal following...i was actually considering them for my home theatre...but changing out my Paradigms and using them for home theatre sounded like more fun!

thanks for all the input...right now i am leaning towards the ProAc (if i can find 'em in my price point) followed by Thiel and Meadowlark...but i need to do more research on Totem and Dali...i am still leaning towards floorstanders due to personal preference, but maybe i should buy some bookshelfers just to broaden my horizens a bit...thanks again, mark