ADVICE on buying new set of Hi Fi speakers or Active monitors

[chickenfingers]

Hello.

I want to buy a set of loudspeakers for my lounge at home. We will be listening to music and watching movies on them. I am not an audio engineer nor so I will not be mixing or producing any music with them.
We want a set of loudspeakers which basically make our listening experience a whole lot better than the $100 speakers we have now a days. Something with a good and smooth low end would be great. Definitely not looking for a Home theater system. It is a must that they are active.
Our budget is $1.000USD.
What do you guys recommend? Has any one got a good article reviewing several options? I cannot seem to find any at the moment.

I am sure the variety of options is wide however you are experts on this so your advice will be very much appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Sergio

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have active monitors and they are great, but for several reasons I would not recommend them for your situation.
So on to passive (or regular hifi) speakers. you realize these would need to amplified, right?
$1000 is a decent budget. Just to clarify something - 1k for speakers only or for total budget?
btw: speaker shootouts are very rare nowadays since most companies don't like them much.

I will quickly provide both options:
a) 1k for speakers only - without a doubt, these:
http://philharmonicaudio.com/philharmonitor.html

b) if 1k is for speakers and amp:
speakers: http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cmt340m/cmt340m.html
this avr:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00KLC08L8/ref=olp_tab_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
Look for $418 very good condition (aka only packaging is damaged)
This is not used product, more of b-stock. It carries FULL 3 years original warranty from Denon.
This fact has been confirmed with Denon on several occasions.
I'm sure someone will jump with refub product from ac4l - they are not bad option, but only carries 1 year warranty.

c) 2.1k for about 1k -
speakers:http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cbm170/cbm170.html
sub: http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html or VTF-2 if budget allows - it's on nice sale now
same AVR

Last option will provide fullest sound with excellent and very smooth and deep bass (once all properly configured)

but don't a) Philamonitors are rated almost as low as STF-2 - so unless action movies is your thing, it should sound very smooth

Keep in mind both Ascend and Philharmotic Audio will give you 30 to 60 day in home trial, during which you could return the products for full refund if you're not happy.

 

[witchdoctor]

I would recommend the JBL LSR 305's or 308's, you can them at Amazon and have enough money left over to buy the LSR 310 sub,

 

[zieglj01]

The Philharmonic Philharmonitors seem to be on hold for now, due to
a death in the partner's family
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/89-speakers/1348949-philharmonic-audio-dennis-murphy-164.html#post32010873