Monitors that compete with quality floorstanders??

Czarivey was the first to mention the obvious choice, the Totem Mani-2 Signature. There is a pair currently for sale on A-gon in your price range. Furthermore, here's the Stereophile Review, plus measurements, plus updated measurements from 2009. The averaged response curve is remarkably flat, and indicates an honest -6dB point of 28 Hz. This would be excellent bass in a floorstander, but is totally remarkable in an 8.5"x16.5"x12" monitor.

PS: I have no affiliation with the seller listing those Mani-2's.

Agree with Johnny. I've heard the Mani-2s and they are remarkable for their bass output (as well as many other things) for their size too. The thing is, (the clue)s are rated at -3dB from 28 to 33Hz (room dependent) and are about $1000/pr. new. That's the rub with these ridiculous speakers. The Totems listed, as good as they are, are $2800 used. For that price you could get four stacked (the clue)s and a pair of decent stands NEW, and with four of them working the bass would obviously be even more formidable. That's the way I heard'em, and WOW. I think their somewhat unfair advantage is that the designer figured out a way to use the walls, ceiling, and floor to synergistically bring these small speakers to a completely unexpected level in comparison to more traditionally designed speakers. I also think there's some innovative thinking going on in the crossover in these speakers maybe not too dissimilar to Joseph Audio's infinite slope design as it seems to be a sliding crossover slope. However they do it, the imaging despite being shoved up against a wall was very impressive. Whatever. What I heard was seamless, natural, and absurdly bass proficient -- more than anything I've heard anywhere near their size and certainly their price.

I realize I sound like a complete shill, but really just forwarding impressions from a product that literally knocked my socks off. And that just don't happen much. For what it's worth...

I think there is some heavy-duty "marketing" going on with Sjofn's specs. A standmounter with a 5.5" driver and a small-moderate sized cabinet is not going to do 28Hz on the bottom. It may have a very impressive low end, but I find that specification very suspect. So, if someone feels it might be able to compete with a floorstander on the bottom end, give it a listen first. Admittedly, I haven't heard the speaker, but I'd like to see a little more accuracy in the way things are rated. It kind of reminds me of the little home theatre in a box systems bragging about having 1500W (probably rated one channel driven at a lower impedance for a nanosecond at 20% distortion multiplied by the number of channels).

No longer in production but the cliffhanger audio bulldogs are good performers.

"I think there is some heavy-duty "marketing" going on with Sjofn's specs. A standmounter with a 5.5" driver and a small-moderate sized cabinet is not going to do 28Hz on the bottom."

The claimed low-end extension is dependent on the speakers being placed as recommended for optimal boundary reinforcement. The designer has tailored the low-frequency response of the system to be the approximate inverse of the anticipated boundary reinforcement, so that when placed as recommended, the net result is extension instead of boom. I use a similar approach in some of my designs, and call it "room gain complementary tuning". Taking advantage of boundary reinforcement is about as close as it gets to a free lunch.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer/admires the Clue from afar