budget towers? $500/pair

Thanks! I found a set of paradign millenia 200's on amazon for 548 shipped new? Which is kinda strange bc they are nearly a grand on tsto.com.
Pretty different design than those wharfs, better or just different sounding? I can imagine the low end will be weaker with those on account of their size and freq rating, but Im not apposed to getting a sub eventually. Thanks again for the info on the wharfs. much appreciated!

Klemke89,
Energy made a speaker that was very similar to the Millenia 200 called the Take Tower.I own a pair.They are terrific for Home Theater and are at their best with a sub.Anothe store near my home (World Wide stereo) was closing them out for $129 each on their website:

http://www.energy-speakers.com/na-en/products/take-twr-overview/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/energy-speakers-take-fps-and-take-twr/

Of course if you don't mind a couple of dings, there is a pair of NHT 2.9's for $650 avaiable here, link below, now that's value --> http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1276805149

perfect solution, buy a used pair of vandersteen 1c, very,very nice speaker for 500.00 and thay will sing well with average electronics. can not think of a better speaker for your price range.

Klemke89
For two channel audio,you would probably be happier with many of the speakers suggested here(both used and new)than a more video/home theater oriented speaker.Good used such as the Vandersteen 1C suggested by Dmastri is always good "bang for the buck." Discontinued,Close-out and Demo with full warranty is another great option.I would recommend the Wharfedale 9.4,9.6 and the Mordaunt Short MS 914 over speakers such as the Millenia 200 0r Take Tower if listening to quality 2 channel audio is a priority.The sound will usually be more balanced and richer thsn with a theater oriented speaker whose design goals were slanted towards asthetics and the inclusion of a subwoofer was assumed.

Matching center channel speakers can be found for most all of the suggestions on this thread if you branch into full blown home theater.There are anumber of affordable subwoofers(such as the Rel T series)which are designed to mate with full range floorstanders for both music and movies.

If accurate music reproduction is a primary goal,I would opt for a speaker that was designed for first and formost for listening to music.

While there are some exceptions such as the Definitive Mythos STS,these are usually not inexpenstve.A used pair of Mirage OM-6 with built-in powered subs could be the ticket for an affordable double duty system.