bookshelf's to match older rotel 30watt

You know the first time I heard B&Ws I fell in love with them, too. But the more I went and listen to other speakers the less I liked the B&Ws. At your price point, the top speaker I would be looking for is a used pair of the Usher S-510, as it's the small speaker to beat, after thst the Energy RC-10s are some very nice sounding speakers. Beyond that you might want to check out some NHT Classic Two or Threes, hell even the Polk RT series aren't bad for the money. There's a lot of good speakers at your price point out there and you owe it to yourself to hear as many of them as possible.

Glowplug,

Everybody is in the same ballpark as far as being able to hear a lot of the speakers that they may be interested in. About the only way you can audition many speakers is to buy them, listen to them for awhile and if works out, keep them. If not, sell them for pretty much the same price you bought them for and try something else. One of the best places that I have found to do is, is through Audiogon sales listing (hit browse). In here, many people, just like me and you are buying and selling various pieces of audio equipment. And quite often you can get some pretty damn good deals. Believe me, this is the route many Audiogoners have gone down in trying to find equipment or speakers that they would like to try and/or can afford. If I was you I would go to Audiogon sales listing on a regular bases, as there is many good speakers turning up there at a variety of price points. Find what you're looking for, contact the seller, ask needed questions, work out the details of payment and shipping, and then, hopefully, happy listening. Fact of the matter is, this is exactly the way I put my system together.

Btw, B&W speakers show up there quite often, as do many of the other speakers that have been suggested in this thread. Check the listings daily, as you never know what might show up.

Glowplug,

If you like the "sonic signature" of B&W, you might want to check out Epos and Wharfdales. In your price range, the Epos ELS3 would be an excellent speaker. This little Epos has gotten quite a number of excellent reviews and from hearing this speaker I can see why.

Epos ELS3 = 87db, 4 ohms impedance.

While I agree somewhat with Knownothing about focusing on speaker sensitivity and impedance, I would also say that your 30 watt Rotel should be able to drive any of these speakers quite well, as long as your mindful about not using excessive volume which will drive your Rotel into clipping. Basically if you listen to your music at a moderate volume level in a small/medium size room 30 watts should be plenty.

Glowplug,

The damage that clipping will do is not so much to the amp, but to your speaker's tweeter. Many tweeters have been "fried" because someone trying to crank-up a lower powered amp and drove it into clipping. What's happening is, your amp can put out more power, but unfortunately that extra power comes with a high levels of distortion. And it's this distortion that kills tweeters.

The thing to remember is that unless you're cranking the amp up loud (pass the 12 o'clock position on the volume control) and/or have your tone controls on the amp turned way past their flat position (which is usually at the 12 o'clock position) then you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

One thing you might want to check out is how well your Rotel can handle a 4 ohm load. Probably the best way to do that is check it's manual (if you still got it) or send an email to Rotel asking them about your amp. Some amps can handle 4 ohms loads very well, other amps not so well.