If you can find some used mission/cyrus 781's or 782's. I just got a pair of 781's here on A-gon for $250 shipped. The day I got mine I found a second pair here too for $200. I prefer and own the 782's but havent seen any used. I bought the 781's for spare parts since they are the same drivers and crossovers. The sensitivity of the 781's (ported) are about 90db and the 782's (sealed) are about 91db. I recommend 24" stands for either and a sub.
I've owned and used the 782's for over 19 years. Even though I just purchased Dynaudio C1's (3 weeks ago) to replace the 782's to me they are worth a lot more than the retail ($800) I paid 19 years ago. I'm hoping I can afford a small second system for my computer room. So why did I buy the C1's after getting the 781's for parts? I didnt think I would ever find a monitor that would 'WOW' me like the C1's did. The top 2 closest contenders were the B&W 805's and the Sonus Faber cremora auditor m's. Both were only slightly better 'in my opinion' and couldnt justify the bucks spent.
Take your time and be patient. It took me 3 years (on and off) of bringing my 782's to stores to compare just the speakers before finding something worthy of an in-home demo. I did this because what I thought was better by listening without comparing them to my speakers it turns out that I was listening to all different electronics in different rooms. Besides if I demo-ed a speaker in my home and didnt care for it it meant only 1 trip to the store instead of 2.
I've owned and used the 782's for over 19 years. Even though I just purchased Dynaudio C1's (3 weeks ago) to replace the 782's to me they are worth a lot more than the retail ($800) I paid 19 years ago. I'm hoping I can afford a small second system for my computer room. So why did I buy the C1's after getting the 781's for parts? I didnt think I would ever find a monitor that would 'WOW' me like the C1's did. The top 2 closest contenders were the B&W 805's and the Sonus Faber cremora auditor m's. Both were only slightly better 'in my opinion' and couldnt justify the bucks spent.
Take your time and be patient. It took me 3 years (on and off) of bringing my 782's to stores to compare just the speakers before finding something worthy of an in-home demo. I did this because what I thought was better by listening without comparing them to my speakers it turns out that I was listening to all different electronics in different rooms. Besides if I demo-ed a speaker in my home and didnt care for it it meant only 1 trip to the store instead of 2.