I'm going to try to make this a short version of my story/thinking. I have a past with ID speaker companies dating back to around the year 2000. I purchased my first surround sound system and it was from Aperion. They sounded great at the time, and it was cool that they came in their purple velvet "Crown Royal" bags. I ended up abandoning them when I divorced. After that, I didn't have a full surround until I picked up some AV123 Rockets (450's and something else and center), and then I picked up a 5.1 Statik with 15MFW. I'm relatively happy with that stuff, but I'm thinking over the next few years of getting something else.
Right now, I have been reading that the vogue thing is to go with bookshelves and a sub. I've always preferred towers, as it seems the floorspace they take is the same. Anyway, I am facing some lower back issues, and suspect that bookshelves might be easier to wrestle around. I also have a bunch of gift cards, etc. from Christmas that I want to use for something "fun." And I've decided to try bookshelves and then later add a sub.
I will be using them in a bedroom for theater and music, and I have a $500 or less budget for the pair. I'm not too concerned about the center channel as the only real TV watching there is when I'm going to bed. Here are a few choices that I've seen, and the issue is, there's no one local to demo them.
PSB Image B5/6
Paradigm Atom Monitor
Paradigm Mini Monitor
Focal 705v
I am open to suggestions, and I know that a couple are a bit of a budget stretch, which is fine since speakers typically aren't like milk and spoil.
Thanks in advance.