I absolutely love my HB-1's(Emotiva A-100 amp). Very smooth & non-fatiguing. I ordered 4 other speakers to shootout test them against, and they sounded best to me, but are quite big for desktop use!
Very curious about FR graphs for HB-1, HC-1, and CCB-8. Upgrading from HB-1 to CCB-8 would seem the best option, by gaining 10dB bass range(60Hz HB/HC vs 50Hz CCB). I am not a fan of subwoofers(way, way overkill for small rooms IMO), and the bass of HB-1 is quite pleasant and satisfying to me, so that gain of 10dB should be a very noticeable difference, still keeping the system sub-less.
Not sure if any other <$1K speakers out there are worth messing around with(SVS Ultra?), so I would probably try LS50 as the next serious upgrade.
I am curious about HSU's HC-1 claim, "Can also be used vertically as a more powerful HB-1 MK2". Since HB-1 and HC-1 both only do 60Hz(and have the same tweeter), would "more powerful" simply mean the mid/upper bass has more impact, and sub-bass, mids & treble are identical? This is why I want to see a comparison FR graph between HB-1 and HC-1.