$1500 to spend...

@leemaze

lee, i don’t know you, and you don’t know me -- but if you read my posts on this forum, you will find that i don’t say things without proper basis

in the case of wharfedales, my experience is based on hearing in my own system(s) the following - linton heritage 85’s, evo 4.2, diamond 225’s - they were driven by hegel, naim and primare solid state, audio research and primaluna tube gear

wharfedales are not bad for the money, but you can’t compare their performance to higher level british speakers like harbeths proacs spendors... midrange and midbass can be bloated, and ultimately the transparency, openess/imaging, and top to bottom coherence just isn’t as good - not a close contest

when you make a post asking for input, you will hear people’s actual opinions and experiences, and my comments reflect mine - taking offense is counter productive to your pursuit of better sound quality in your system

you say you want to throw another 1500 bucks into your system, i take that at face value, and i say (as others have said) add that $ to your current speakers in trade (or resell) and do better, get better - for $2000-2500 used you can get into more serious, superior speakers than what you have

I am somewhat biased for stand mounts over floor standers for use in small rooms. Though they lack the bottom octave many provide a very taunt and accurate bass over those frequencies they serve. Many can soundstage and image beyond the speakers. The smaller room  help to support lower base. That said, Jl35 is correct in that there are several smaller floor standers that are available that may augment bass over a stand mount and serve you well. Either way I would shop for a used pair. Possibility look into use of a subwoofer as funds become available.

I believe if one wants to get into the bottom octave with speakers one sacrifices too much from the others. The lower the price point the more true my belief is. Quality bass costs. I am not willing to make that sacrifice. Very little of the music I play contains much in that region anyway (rock, Jazz, pop, bluegrass, folk). 

@jjss49 hey mate. No offense taken. And I appreciate your more thoughtful second response. But I’ll say, as with your first response, it is not very helpful: you don’t offer opinions on my actual queries, you don’t offer any alternatives, and you even imply that what I really should do is almost double my budget. Again - not productive to the conversation. Hope you take this as constructive criticism of your posts. I’m sure you’re a nice guy or gal. Be well!

@mesch thanks for that thorough explanation and your theory makes a lot of sense!  I listen to a lot of indie pop, electro, rnb, and lots of Prince, so I definitely need those lower octaves.