Suggestions short 3' tall floorstander?

Some of the smaller Legacy towers might fit the bill.

Klipsch Heresy IIIs...2 feet high and a world class sounding bargain at 99db efficiency, and there's simply nothing quite like these fat little boxes. Unlike Forte IIIs they need a sub or two, but at your budget that would easily fit.

Klipsch Forté III ;)

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. A couple of quick comments:

a) spending less? they should revoke your Audiogon account! ;-)

b) the acoustically transparent screen suggestion is cool, but won't work in my environment. Such a screen would need to be 2-3 feet into the room and I am dealing with a room in the main living area of my home, not a dedicated home theater.

c) my speakers are 12-15 inches off the rear wall. I *might* be able to go to 2 ft if necessary.

d) I drive the speakers with a Sherbourn 5/1500a. A "five monoblocks in one chassis" design, similar to some Bryston amps. Rated for 200 wpc in 8 ohms and 300 into 4 ohms.

Spendor A5 or A6.

Spendor has some highly regarded relatively short floorstanders such as the 5e and 8e you might want to check out.

Zu has 5 speakers that range in height from 32" to 38" tall.

Thiel 1.7's would work.

I would take a look at Tekton Designs speakers. A whole lot of bang for the buck. For that price point(or a lot less), Mr. Alexander makes some fine products.

No interest at all, other than a very satisfied customer. He's a nice guy to deal with to boot...

Happy Listening

If impact and dynamics are high on your list of priorities, imo high quality prosound drivers are a viable way to get there. Tyler Acoustics and Pi Speakers both have models that fall within your height and price range. Yours truly has done some semi-custom work in that area as well.

You didn't mention footprint size, so I presume you're okay with a larger footprint than what you've been using. As we go up in efficiency (and dynamics), we have to increase the box size if we want to still have decent low end.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

You have other choices.
1) Get an acoustically transparent screen—less costly than new speakers.
2) Reposition the speakers for 2-channel listening—costs nothing.

The Hawk is a logical choice, but I am interested in seeing what other options are out there. The Mite-Ts are way too big for the rear in my current setup anyway (the Mite-T is the size of two Mites stacked on top of each other)

Could just spend less(gasp!) and buy a pr of Rega RS-3 which is all a reasonable person needs.

Of course reasonable and audiophile are mutually exclusive.

given your existing Totem config, why not go with Forests, and if they are too tall Hawks. You can move the Mite's to the rear. Another option is Mani-2's. I have a pair of Sttafs, and Mani-2's. Wouldn't recommend the sttafs for HT for the same reason you experienced with the arros. I would recommend the Mani-2's though - provided you have the power to drive them. Mine are 40" on 24" stands.

I am doing 5.1 but my current concern is improving the 2 channel performance. Currently I have Totem Mite-T mains and Totem Mite-T center in front, a small pair of Mirage speakers (forget which model) in rear, and a Monitor Audio ASW-210 sub. The Mite Ts (on stands) will block the screen, so they must be placed on either side of the screen, leaving a big hole for 2-channel use. Using shorter stands wont work because of the MTM layout of the Mite-T (the tweeter would be too low).

I have tried Totem Arros as mains (only 33-34 inches tall), but they don't have the impact needed for the occasional HT use. This is partly due to the room layout which leaves the listening area with essentially no left wall and 4 feet of missing right-rear wall (an open entranceway). Thus, I think I need a short, somewhat muscular floorstander. I know Totem makes some bigger models, but I am interested in what else may be out there.

If you can drive a 4ohm load, the Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grands are 37" tall, and really nice speakers. Very musical.

Gallo Classico 3 or 4 would be ideal.

How far away from the wall will you be placing these speakers? Front / rear port on the speakers could be a significant factor.

Are you just doing 2 channel, or will you be adding center and rears?

KEF Q500. Dimensions with plinth (H x W x D) 36.1 x 11.6 x 12.3 in.