I'm looking for new speakers in that price range, and I've narrowed it down so far to:
Active speakers straight out of a DAC:
- Magnat Multi Monitor 220: readily available here in Switzerland; according to a number of German reviews, well made, good sounding speakers
https://www.magnat.de/en/Pro/Multi-Monitor-220/ ; I don't like that it apparently doesn't "remember" the last volume setting set by remote.
-
JBL 305s : would fit the bill but I need a remote control
Passive speakers (from a FDA amp), in no particular order:
- the usual suspects: Wharfedale Diamond, Monitor Audio Bronze, Q Acoustics 3020
- some more original choices: Triangle Elara, Q Acoustics Concept 20, Audio Engine passive ? model (on sale), new Klipsch 400 RPs (beautiful design, European price too high), new Dali Oberon 1 (very promising)
- some more exotic models currently on sale by Phonar (German brand, I have one of their subs) and System Audio (Danish brand)
- The Hsus looked very interesting, but would be too large unfortunately, in addition to having to import them.
Then there's this business about FDA amplifiers working better with higher sensitivity speakers; I haven't looked much into that constraint yet.
I'm learning more and more to buy based on what's available locally. Customs and processing fees can be a pain. The above selection goes to show markets can vary quite a bit. I'm not that far from France, and the market is quite different there.