Best stand mounted monitors


I need your help please as I'm replacing my floor standing KEF Ref. Series 104/2 speakers with stand mounted monitors and probably a subwoofer due to the wife-acceptance-factor. I'm looking for comments from people who have listened to and hopefully compared the following monitor speakers that I'm considering:
(1) REFERENCE 3A - MM Decapo i
(2) PROAC - Response One SC or Tablette Ref. 8 Signature
(3) VON SCHWEIKERT - VR-1
(4) REVEL - M20 or the new M22 due out Q1 '04
(5) ATC - SCM 10-2 or SCM 20-2 either active or passive.

Other things you need to consider before offering your advice:
--> I will be replacing a very old Sherwood receiver with a new tube preamp and either tube or SS amp. I'll get the speakers first and then match the amp to it.
--> my room is about 4,800 cubic ft (40*15*8) and is average "aliveness" so having a higher sensitive speaker (e.g. >89dB) is desirable as it'll will mean less power required. I listen mostly to jazz with some R&B and classical.
--> budget is around US$2K-$3K (new retail price)
--> Id like to buy a REL subwoofer to match (e.g. Stadium II or III)

Many thanks.
kevinzoe

Showing 3 responses by kevinzoe

Wow, lots of good feedback to my post - thanks all for your contributions! Some new names I'll check out including: Green Mountain Audio, JM Renaud, Usher, Shamrock, & Pen Audio.

General question to you all is did you buy the speakers & amp at the same time or did you buy one of them first and then later 'match' the other to it?

Thanks for your thoughts
keivnzoe
Dawgbyte,
I couldn't find any speakers by Gryphon at the link you provided. I thought Gryphon only made electronics (i.e. preamps, amps, integrated, a CD player) and not speakers . . . Could you provide more info or a direct link to the speaker on their web site as I couldn't find it?
Thanks.

Kevinzoe
Hi All,
Thanks for your recent additions to this old thread. In the meantime I bought the Model 1 from FAB Audio which is a floor standing speaker, built a dedicated 'soundproof' music room in a new home and did some other system changes (amp + CDP). Whole new system and mini-monitors may apply in the future for a living room system . . .

Thanks for all the great input.