College student stuck w/ bad speakers: advise pls


The more suggestions the better. The used market is only so large, so many I won't be able to try, but thanks in advance for your consideration of me, I truly appreciate it.

First, I'm not a seasoned pro or anything, but I appreciate good audio, especially live and have heard exceptional PA systems from Radiohead live, other bands in Millennium Park, live Chicago symphony, a pretty incredible new sound system inside my wood church (essentially a cathedral), another new system in another new church, etc.

I need a bookshelf speaker for my office to replace the wretched Paradigm Atom V3s I bought. I have an HK3480 and Polk R50s at home. No, the Polks aren't great, but I never said they were. All right, unimpressive right? I set up a MA S2 / Teac stereo for a friend last year and it was pretty incredible sounding to me.

OKOK the Paradigms are decent, but don't image or present a wide soundstage enough. They're way too laid back and I need a forward sound. Should I splurge on the Linn Tukans? I don't care if it's used, but it has to be below $375 shipped. I'm considering Energy RC-10's. Will I be completely disappointed with those? I only have a 30 WPC Teac DR-L700 with some famous Class D amp or something. It's decent and I liked a Teac CRH-227 with Monitor Audio S2s. I really don't think the problem is the amp, the speakers aren't what I'm used to. I could goto Saturday Audio in Chicago some weekend easily, and check out the MA equipment. Please advise. Thank you!

P.S. The speakers need to be able to play Radiohead. Bass doesn't matter as much as realism, soundstage, and imaging.

P.P.S. I'm a little bit skeptical of the laid-back attitude of B&W. Klipsch, Bose, Polk are out of the question. Dynaudio is way out of budget. The rest I can't easily audition here. I may bid on some Linn Tukans or else the Energy RC-10 I can get for $300 with a strong return policy, thoughts?
ferrariguru
The Energy RC-10 are great speakers, but I don't know if their soundstaging and imaging would be all that much better than your Paradigm. You might want to check out some Ascend CBM-170s. Soundstage has a good review on them.
Why are "Klipsch, Bose, Polk" out of the question? Cost? Bose is not even close, so forget those, you get nothing for your money, however klipsch and Polk both have some real killer speakers for the prices, and used you can do some damage, maybe not towers, but they do make some good bookshelves that might meet your needs.. And yes Saturday audio in chicago normally gets many used klipsch and polk, along with some others... PSB might be pretty nice too, but depends if they are in budget.
Thank you for all of your suggestions.

Really, Swampwalker, I've heard the Linns are extremely musical. I really liked the British sound of the MA S2s which I owned for a while as I ran it through its paces.

Matrix, I guess I shouldn't discount Polk or Klipsch, but with my own system it's always pleasing, but the imaging and soundstage aren't exactly what I need for this use. That 120 WPC system can go far beyond listening levels that I'd ever need without a hint of distortion. I've heard great things about the LSI series.

Jaybo and Grinnell, Triangle Stella; Comete or Advents I haven't really heard of, but I'll look into them for sure.

The Sound I need:

For this project, I need to show off my favorite band Radiohead, and that requires separation between instruments on the soundstage.

Melodic electric guitar and tantilizing combinations of instruments must be pulled out into the room, such as on the track "Weird Fishes" from Radiohead's In Rainbows. If you're familiar with Jonny Greenwood's soundtrack for There Will Be Blood, that'll do as well. Ambient music (like strings) must pop out at me more, just like the S2. It'd be nice if it could manage the multiple instruments in Sufjian Stevens' song Chicago without getting jumbled.

How do I get those immediate guitars that reach out and grab you? Think of the Beatles Revolution, that electric guitar which is peppered throughout is what needs to jump out. I know it's possible because the Monitor Audio S2 did it very well. Would you describe that as forward, I don't know, simply realistic I'd say.

Should I just stick with the S2? Trouble is I can't find it for what I consider a good price.

So many people keep suggesting PSB, and I guess I need to demo those. The Paradigms are more of an all-around decent speaker, but I need an excellent music-focused speaker for two channel listening.

I've heard people suggest Totems, and with an unlimited budget I would at least want to try those as well as the Linn Katan and Epos M12.2.

Size is a concern as I did buy a half-rack amp, lol. I will keep everyone updated.