Speaker Choice under $750 for blues...

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1238981535&/Monitor-Audio-Silver-RS6-Cherr

Try to find something with a bigger woofer , 10 - 12 inches , depending on the size of your room .
With only 70w you will also need a high impedance and db rating so as to be able to move the woofer . The higher impedance should also help with the attack or transients which may provide some of that bite .
I don't think that you would want to have a none smooth tweeter , especially with the quality of classic rock recordings .

Maybe some vintage JBL's or Klipsch .

Good luck .

Thanks for the input I will take that into consideration. I do have a subwoofer which helps augment the bass.

Soliloquy 5.3, several pair on sale here, but not mine...
Chris

My Klipsch KLF-20 is pretty good on rocks and jazz. You can get a pair of used one at $750 with shipping.

Klipsch - check out the latest RF62 or RF82 - I see a used RF82 for $650 on A'Gon..... Good Luck

Thanks! Yes, Klipsch is always a good choice for "rock" if you will. I've owned some in the past but am afraid in my current listening area the horns may be a little over kill. However, it depends on the model I guess.

Try the B&W 802D the bass-drums will punch you away

Look into some PSB image towers, depending on what you can afford, either the T45 or T55.

Check out this and this.

I'm not endorsing this vendor, but just pointing it out, because the T55s are $1K/pair at Audio Advisor, and this would put the T55s into your financial reach. The Image series have a frequency linearity you don't usually get at this price range. Energy speakers across the board have transparent, unboxy, realistic sounding vocals, and these towers have low bass. They are also efficient, so you'll get the maximum jump and volume out of your 70wpc amp.

I have an 80 wpc amp driving a pair of 91db efficient speakers made by the same parent company, and it is *plenty* to drive them, even in my open-architecture living area.

Those T55s should nail it for you on blues, classic rock, jazz, big band, orchestral ...

Thanks again guys. I did have a pair of the T45's recently but they didn't quite excite me. The T55's may do that.

KLH Model 5s and JBL L100s miss the price point but probably have the bite and retro looks to do the job. Interested in your decision and how it works out.

PSB, Elac, Polk - good deals in that price range 

13 years is an awfully long time to make a decision on what speakers to get! You think he’s still a lookin’?