Great, Physically Unobtrusive High-end Speakers?


I'm considering replacing my 44" tall floor-standing boxes with something much less obtrusive, even if I go to monitors and a sub, in a medium-size living room with open floor plan. Don't care about loud rock and roll but I listen to just about everything else.

I'd love to get some recommendations from you guys and gals. Thanks!
ps
Hi Ps,
Looks like the problem is to narrow down the many choices that you have here. For starters, the MF120's you have are high powered tube amps so you can go with many different type monitor speakers. For me, I prefer the British sound in speakers as they have a long history of making great 2 way bookshelf and monitor sized speakers. ProAc, Harberth, Spendor - you can't go wrong with any of these manufacturers. Rogers & Celestion too; however, different models in their lineup offer different things. And you can find really good used speakers too which is what I would do if it were me.

I don't know much about Dynaudio, I went into a high end store once and heard them and they sounded amazing, but were also very expensive. I think there are many other used speakers that can be just as good for a lot less.

Besides British, for a different flavor you could also try an efficient single driver speaker like Omega. You will be amazed with the immediacy of it and the great thing about Omegas is that if you wanted to someday change electronics, you can always go to a low powered SET amp which is a wonderful match for the Omegas. With the other lower efficiency British speakers, changing amplification might just mean also having to change speakers as well. Omegas sound great with everything but really shine on low powered tube gear.

yes , i may have not phrased that properly . Speakers like : Magnepan , Martin Logan , Pretty much all electostats - Planars . I beleive the Audio Physics also radiate sound in a figure 8 pattern . I am sure i am leaving out some . Anyone else can add to the list
Seems like Companies like Dynaudio , PMC , Focal , ATC , Adam , That cater to both Pro and home markets seem to get sound right .
You guys are great! Thanks very much for all the input. So many excellent choices!

I should have a pair of "mystery" speakers to demo by the end of the week and will report back. If I love 'em, they'll likely be keepers and I'll let you know what they are.

Since I've awakened the sleeping audio bug within, dormant for about a decade, I've learned a great deal. Tastes change, room configurations change. Budgets certainly change as well as priorities. One example is I sure miss my old Linn turntable. I sold it to my brother to "upgrade" to something else, but in retrospect that Linn was a very fine piece of gear and I wish I had it now.

Ooops- I'm derailing my own thread with OT stuff. :) It's really about speakers.