budget towers? $500/pair

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.

BTW,
Paradigm does make very good affordable music oriented speakers as well.They would be a nice purchase if you can find good used or demo...

much appreciated advice! and yes, 2 channel music listening is the priority so thank you very much.