Small-ish Speakers That Come Alive At Low Volume

thanks Mapman and Celtic66... i'll check into those. should also mention that the speakers are going to have to be relatively close to the rear wall, so rear ported would not be my first choice.

i know that a.gallo uses spectron amps to show his speakers, so am also interested in the Strada, as it's the new ref 3.5 minus the large driver. not too much on a'gon about them yet.

i've got a JLAudio sub that i can use to augment bass, so full range isn't an absolute requirement.

With a good sub to blend, the very small, front ported Triangle Titus XS if you find a pair used (<$500) could be just the ticket.

Cheers!

Second the Triangle recommendation.
I have Comete ES's in bedroom system for this exact purpose - clear low-level listening. The front-porting also helps a lot with room placement.

The French have it - in addition to the Titus, I suggest the Focal Chorus 805V or 806V, although I don't recall if their ports fire to the front. I also like the Rega RS1 for this application (which, of course, is not French).

i'll second the rega rs1; a step up from there would be the pardigm sig s1 or s2, which also work very well near the wall.