Good music speakers to replace Klipsch reference series?

[Audiocd]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum and looking for some opinions on what to replace my klipsch rf-3s with. I have owned the Rf-3s for about 11 years now and I both love and hate them. As many of you may know and may agree or disagree, the highs can be too harsh depending on the source. The bass is tight and accurate enough for my tastes and some recordings sound great altogether but too often at moderate to high volumes I find the listening experience unpleasant due to the seeming lack of midrange and harsh highs. I recently bought a pair of Energy C-2 bookshelf speakes for $40 in the local ad paper and I find myself listening to them for music much more than my klipsch which are used in the living room for 2 channel stereo. The energys are a bit more relaxed and not at all harsh like the Klipschs can be.
The Klipschs really are sensitive to the source, at times they can sound great and well detailed with some recordings like Steely Dan for example. But at other times they really sound awful with swirling, percing highs and good bass but not enough in the middle like with some brighter recordings and especially songs that start mellow and get louder. Sorry for the lack of technical jargon, I'll pick it up sooner or later.
Where I live there aren't any decent stereo shops so auditioning is out of the question. Plus I'm on a budget so I'd probably buy used from ebay.
I'd like to hear some opinions on good floorstanding speakers for music only that can be had used for $600 or less.


Thanks
Jon

 

[zieglj01]

look at the PSB
Psb Image T65 Tower For Sale | AudiogoN
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1325813042&/PSB-6T-Very-nice

 

[afterlife2]

5 of these at 57.00 each: Amazon.com: Infinity Primus Two-Way 5 1/4-Inch Bookshelf/Satellite Speaker (Black, Each): Electronics Expo

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Since you like Energy, have you auditioned their towers?

Can you audition Infinity and PSB?

 

[slupry]

you can have a look at the Polk Audio Monitor 70 AM7022-A 3-Way Floorstanding Speaker.
http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Monitor-AM7022--Floorstanding/dp/B0002Z2420/?ie=UTF8&tag=bestsellingpro-20&qid=1321721698&sr=8-14

 

[GranteedEV]

I recommend checking out the Pioneer FS51 speakers if your local best buy has them.

I also reccommend the B-Stock EMP e55ti from their clearance section.

That said there aren't many speakers in your budget that will have a great balance of listening window and reflected sound. Whatever you pick, I expect that you will benefit a good bit from some absorption panels to tame down excess tweeter energy given how flawed most designs actually are.

These KEFs might be an improvement in that regard:

KEF Q500 Q Series 5-1/4 inch Cherry Floorstanding Speaker, Each | Accessories4less

 

[Brian Abington]

I've not had a good demo of the Klipsch Reference series. Every time I've listened to a pair no matter what size I thought that the midrange from the horn sounded really honky...kind of like the music was bring played into a small bathroom trash can.

My dad is auditioning new speakers and we recently listened to the new monitor 7's and the energy's in the same price range (can't remember model number) I personally think that the monitor 7's are still the best speakers for the money.