You have so many choices in your price range and without a doubt your going to get ton of responses. You state auditioning is a bit of a challenge but it is an absolute must.
I’m in a similar situation living in a rural area where auditioning is nearly impossible especially in my room. After countless hours of research I decided on a different approach. I took my original budget and divided it in half and purchased two pairs of speakers from the top of my research list. Then I started playing king of the hill (keeping the pair I liked best and selling the other pair).
Once I found a speaker that had the sound I was looking for I sold both pair and bought the best speaker in the manufacturers line. I must of cycled through 10 or 12 pairs of speakers that winter and not only did I learn quite a bit about various speakers I had a blast in the process. Hell I think I even made decent profit.
The best part about the whole thing was I ended up spending far less than I had originally intended. In fact I have done the this very same thing with my entire system.
Best of luck with your search.
I’m in a similar situation living in a rural area where auditioning is nearly impossible especially in my room. After countless hours of research I decided on a different approach. I took my original budget and divided it in half and purchased two pairs of speakers from the top of my research list. Then I started playing king of the hill (keeping the pair I liked best and selling the other pair).
Once I found a speaker that had the sound I was looking for I sold both pair and bought the best speaker in the manufacturers line. I must of cycled through 10 or 12 pairs of speakers that winter and not only did I learn quite a bit about various speakers I had a blast in the process. Hell I think I even made decent profit.
The best part about the whole thing was I ended up spending far less than I had originally intended. In fact I have done the this very same thing with my entire system.
Best of luck with your search.