Definitely take subjective reviews with a grain of salt.
One way to evaluate a reviewer is to read his reviews on several products, looking for the item they did not like. Unfortunately, for most professional reviewers, a negative review does not exist!
I like that the Audioholic reviews list pros and cons as it requires them to identify the bad aspects of a product (which you won't see in many reviews - often the closest they will get is saying something like "Speaker A did not image as well as speaker B, but that is to be expected given speaker B is three times as expensive").
However, unlike PENG, I do have a pretty good appreciation of personal reviews on the forums - especially when they are comparing competitive products. Over the years I have found Zieglj01's assessments to be consistent with my own and he is always comparing speakers.
Here are some of his posts involving the QA 3020 (and why I would recommend the Canton GLS or Chrono over QA):
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/q-acoustics-3020-speakers-my-insight.108390/
Also, bclarke on AVSforum reviewed a lot of bookshelf speakers of the towers in the price range you are considering. I have or did have several of the speakers he reviewed and agree with his opinions as they are consistent with my own:
(this page is over 1000 posts long, but the reviews are contained on the first page)
https://www.avsforum.com/forum/89-speakers/2233954-2-0-bookshelf-compared-wharfedale-philharmonic-chane-musichall-elac-energy-kef.html
Again, these are bookshelf reviews. Many of us, who are looking for the best value recognize that you can buy a very nice 2 way bookshelf speaker for the price of a "not as nice" tower, and if you have a subwoofer, the loss of bass is not an issue (most bookshelf speakers roll off around 50-60Hz). A perfect example is the SVS prime towers at $500 ea vs the SVS Ultra bookshelf at $500 each. If your budget is $1000 for two speakers and you plan to use a good subwoofer, the Ultras are an easy choice for improved SQ!
That said, I understand that many people like the look of a tower and if that is important, get a tower! I am just explaining why these reviews are most often bookshelf speakers.
Above, I talk about other peoples reviews being consistent with my own opinions. Of course, that is a bit of a sticky wicket! I play in three Big Band Jazz Bands and always have a good bit of Big Band music involved when evaluating speakers. In case you are not familiar, a big band is like what Michael Buble has backing him (or Frank Sinatra, often) or Doc Severinsen's band if you remember Johnny Carson. So these are acoustic instruments (trumpets, saxes, trombones) without any processing of their sound. I know these sounds and will recognize when the harmonic balance/timbre is substantially off.
Still, accurate reproduction of acoustic instruments may not be your preference. If all (or most) of what you listen to is electronic music (which involve a myriad of amps with effects),it is very difficult to know what is accurate. IME, Paradigm was a speaker I liked very well (from their ($$)Monitor Series up to their ($$$$)Signature Series) for rock n roll music. They add some extra bass and treble to give a slight smile to the FR which is nice sounding to my ear. When listening to natural acoustic instruments, they don't sound right to me; however, if you are not familiar with those sounds, it may be that a more accurate speaker might not sound as good to you. That is an aspect to consider. Is accuracy the objective or what sounds best to you? As much as I like a purist approach, what sounds best to you is relevant; however, I will caution you to listen to a wide variety of music because when you get into inaccurate reproduction (and we are talking slight, the Paradigms are reasonably subtle with their "enhancements"),it may sound great on some music, but play another song and there is a problem. For example, I was really liking the sound of a pair of speakers playing Norah Jones, but when I listened to Pink Floyd's "Time" (from Dark Side of the Moon),when the female vocal comes in with the male vocals, the female vocals were too dominant. That make sense because Norah Jones is largely about listening to her wonderful voice, and a little extra emphasis on her voice is pretty nice! But back to Pink Floyd's "Time" - On other speakers, the male vocals were maybe slightly dominant or equal, and I am pretty confident that having the female vocals dominate was not the objective on that song!
I might suggest buying a decent pair of headphones if you want a good reference of what the balance should be. Sennheiser cans are good for this IME.
To me, Amazon is one of the better places to buy stuff. Look for the "Prime" notation, which generally means you have 30 days to return the speakers. Listening to them in your home and in your room is the way to do it if at all possible. (Best Buy has a 14 day policy which is good enough and may be more convenient if they have what you want).
Happy hunting!
