Anyone like Mordaunt-short or Canton

I have experience with Canton speakers. I had the both the Reference 9.2 DC and the Chronos sl 530's. IMHO, except for the Reference 9.2 DC's, you can get much better speakers for much less elsewhere. Their tweeters are quite harsh and the midrange is usually a bit veiled. But the bass is usually very strong and powerful. Most of their speakers do better with rock than classical. I found my Chronos SL's to be very fatiguing... mainly due to the harsh tweeter.

With that said, the Reference line, in particular the 9.2's, are nothing short of amazing! They are up there with some of the best bookshelf speakers I've ever heard. The build quality is exceptional and the sound is really remarkable... smooth, non-harsh highs, pronounced mid range, and the tightest most controlled bass I've ever heard in a bookshelf ( In the store I kept looking for a subwoofer.) I only wish their whole lineup would sound closer to the reference line than they do.

I should note that I was just in the same boat as you looking for speakers under $2000. I listened to everything under the sun over a period of three weeks. Among others I auditioned B&W, Totem, Dynaudio, Revel, NHT, Paradigm, Polk, Epos, Quad, Thiel, Sonus Faber and Monitor Audio.

In the end, one speaker blew me away... the Nola Boxer. Its so much better than anything else in that price category that its not even fair to compare. There's a reason every reviewer has given it glowing reviews (and most of them have kept them as well.) I think one reviewer said it best- "If you're looking for a pair of standmount monitor speakers and you have about $1500 to spend, buy the Nola Boxers. End of review."

Thanks, do you like anything from Dali...there is a dealer near me.

I don't have a lot of experience with Dali's but I did just listen to the Dali Helicon 300 Mk2's and I was a bit underwhelmed. I thought there was a distinct lack of detail and definition in the mids. Personally, for a lot less money the Dynaudio Focus 140's are a better speaker to my ear.

i own, or have owned the MS Avant 906, MS 20 and others--very good, listenable speakers with particularly good high end resolution. well balanced, big soundstage, not especially bass-heavy. MS gets virtually no attention in the US and consequently its products are extremely undervalued (i think i paid $150 for a $1000 SRP demo pair of the 906s). check out ebay or accessories4less for deals.

just wanted to add one more speaker to the list...the Elac FS 189...its not too tough to drive and the speakers have a rep for being dynamic...anyone hear?

im very familiar whit canton. The gle490.2 are really dynamic for the price, but for maybe 300$ more you can get the chrono509.2. The tweeter in chrono series is the same that the vento serie(7k$ pair). For a good matching whit canton you must use soft amplifier like mcintosh, arcam, rega, nad....if you have any question about canton you can mail me

Try to find a pair of Mordaunt Short System 442 speakers.

Simply amazing sound and one of the best speakers ever designed.

Forgot to mention they are from 1988 and almost impossible to find now.

I've got a pair of MS902 I bought 10yrs ago. I've run them on a Marantz 5000 and now the Peachtree Nova. They produce a nice, listenable sound. I agree with Loomisjohnson, well balanced and good resolution. I listen to everything from jazz to garage and they perform well.

My only complaint with the 902s is versatility. They've very musical but when it comes to dialog, whether from a movie or a conversation on an album, they lack a lot of clarity. The voices will be flat and out blown by the music (my experience on both amps was the same.)