Is $3000 pushing the limits for a geat monitor??

I have not heard a better pair of speakers than the unassuming Spiral Groove Canalis Anima for $3,250.

I don't own them so there is no bias here...but they are certainly on my "dream' list.

Best monitors I have heard that are within your budget (2nd hand) are the Totem Mani 2, Dynaudio Special 25, Dynaudio C1.

I’m a monitor fan - IMO many listeners move from monitors to floor standers “prematurely". In other words, the allure of losing stands and getting more bass replaces a better, more balanced sound of a monitor, for the same price...

That’s my opinion! I’ve heard so many monitors over the years in studios, so that sound is familiar to me. But also, I’m factoring in the real world variables of room interaction in one’s home - I’d rather listen to a monitor with a little less bass than a floor stander that’s not integrating into the listening room...

To Raquel. The Evolution Acoustics "Micro One" is both an interesting and attractive looking speaker. From what I saw on their site. it looks like they are a half pint floor stander. However, the downsize is they have one store front in Oregon to audition their products. Also, I am not sure if you are buying the speakers as a modular system which comes with a separate sub that locks into the rest of chassis That is a turn off to me

From my experience in audio, companies like this for all their good intentions, eventually go under because they have limited market exposure, and so limited sales I have to check if they have a 30 day return policy including round trip shipping.

In the meantime, I will keep looking Thanks

To Zkzpb8, you make several thoughtful points on the issue of floor standers vs monitors issue. I have been through this several time, beginning with B&W Matrix 3 MKII ( another 70 lbs behemonth) Then, bought a pair of Green Mountain "Europas" an excellent book shelf type speaker, but somewhat short of the performance of the B&W's GM's were replaced by Vandersteen IC a small footprint floorstander, that was good but provided below average bass, and just average highs, but an accurate and enjoyable speaker, nevertheless

Therefore, as you can see I fell into the same pattern you described, and more or less was convinced, that floor standers provide more bass, and a larger soundstage. This was about 10 years ago and I was a bit uninformed about monitors ,plus a period "monitor mania" began. (TAS and SP seemed to provide a revolving door of new monitors every month). Better small speakers were being built using much higher quality drivers, and crossovers which produced an excellent wide soundstage, accurate midrange and deeper bass.

As noted above in the thread context, my new living space is approx. 2 ft shorter on both axes. I received my shipped furniture and stereo this week. and the speaker boxes look huge, and in my mind's eye will not work in the room. Also, I don't want to take these suckers out of the boxes for both a sound and placement survey because of their individual weight. Thanks