Stephen,

A few years ago I was among a group of pro audio people invited to the Polk Audio facility here in Baltimore. They were developing a new line of home theatre speakers and wanted honest feedback from people who listen for a living. I was not only impressed by their speaker, but also by their willingness to take our feedback and incorporate it into their efforts to make better speakers.

I think you should at least give them a listen. Within your budget is the Polk Audio LSi7.

Hello Steve!

I have a set of Boston Acoustics speakers that you are welcomed to borrow to have another reference to check out.

They are amazing speakers, simalar to the ones you just bought only passive. Worth a listen to see how they compare! They are very sweet for looking at finals and raise goosebumps as well.

Both speaker companies mentioned have very strong lines of speakers. I once ran a high end audio facility which carried both lines.

I have a pair of B&W Matrix 1600's. They are close to 12 years old. I have replaced the tweaters once. I like them very much. I live in NYC so I don't get to crank them as much as I would sometimes like. B&W need a little more power to sound good than the Boston A. or Polks in general.

Another line of speakers I am very fond of in Energy. My only recomendation is to get as close to a full range speaker as you can afford. Near fields are for sitting close to. You want something that sounds accurate in a room when you arent sitting right in front of them.