Best speakers under $500? Fire away!

mesch... room is 17 X 17.  I do not play it loud.  "Normal" listening levels.

Spica TC50

Looking for suggestions for budget speakers under $500. Can be floor or bookshelf.

First, there are no best speakers at $500 pair. Or at $1000 pair. And so on, so forth.

Only the speakers that are best for you. And the speakers that can best be driven by your vintage NAD. And the ones that integrate the best with your room.

While I am sure that the Elacs that were suggested are good speakers, they probably are not the best speakers with your 20 wpc into 8 ohm vintage amp. The Elacs are 4 ohm with a sensitivity of only 85dB making them rather hard to drive and not the "best choice" for you. They are also rear ported so should be used with stands to sound their best. Do you have stands or did you plan on putting them on a bookshelf?

My suggestion is to understand your amps capabilities and how they relate to the two key specs of a speaker - impedance and sensitivity. Then make up a short list of models that are within your budget and go out and audition.

So there is a lot more to it than simply asking for suggestions on the internet. Doing that seldom results in the best speaker for you.

Using Infinity 4000a's and ADS L470's with my 3020 with good results. 

Another vote for Elac.  They are designed by Andrew Jones, the same person that designs TAD.  They perform well above their weight class.  I have a set of his monitors connected to a NAD 390DD in my office.  Great sounding setup!