Recommendation on soft dome bookshelfs under $1K

Johnny,

Gotta agree the Aon3 looks like a pretty refined big hitter at its price. Will be seeking out an audition of those sometime soon.

"There are plenty of vintage receivers from the heyday that would easily handle anything the modern speaker market has to offer."

Handle, yes. Bring out the best? Not likely, though some vintage receivers might do quite well with most any modern speaker.

Amplification has come a long way since the heyday of vintage receivers to enable the most out of many modern speakers.

Most receivers, and even many or most integrated, vintage or modern, do not have robust enough power supplies and current delivery capabilities to bring out the best in most (not all) modern speakers.

In general, they will work best with monitors or other designs that do not go much lower than 50-60 hz. Power and current delivery becomes a much more significant factor if attempting to deliver the lowest frequencies with speakers designed to be run of most SS amplification gear.

I live right up the street from Goldenear. My first speakers ever a pair of Lafayette Criterions had heil AMT tweeters. Would love to hear those these days off of a decent rig. Might have to give these a listen locally.