The best speaker in this price range is the Monitor Audio Silver 2s at $1050. They are going to have great bass response for a bookshelf speaker down to 40hz and are pretty easy to drive with an SPL of 88dB. They have the same frequency response as your pioneers.

There are several other nice speakers but I would be cautious as they will not have the same low end frequency response and/or they will be difficult to drive. For instance, the Peachtree D5s are an awesome sounding speaker but have an SPL of 85dB which is going to be difficult for your integrated amp to handle. I wouldn't buy anything with an SPL below 87dB which is what your Pioneers are currently rated at. In practice, the lower the number, the less volume you get from the same amount of power and when you do push the amp, the sound tends to get thin.

In a perfect world you would add a sealed subwoofer to get a fuller musical sound and better effects in home theatre. You don't need to do that but it an NHT B-10D for $600 would be a sweet upgrade in the longer term.

It is far from ideal to have the speakers in a bookshelf but sometimes you have no choice. the solution is that you will need to insert the port bungs that are provided with the speakers. These are pieces of foam that you will insert into the bass ports. What this will do is block air from being pushed out of the bass port. If you don't do this, you will get a bass echo and it will sound boomy and bad. This is outlined in the instruction manual you will receive with the speakers.

Unfortunately, inserting the port bungs will reduce the bass response. By how much will be different with every speaker in every room. I would expect you to probably lose at least 10hz in performance so expect a low end of maybe 50hz instead of 40hz at best. It might be worse. This will make you want to add a subwoofer.

Incidentally, I have a similar issue. I have a pair of Revel Performa3 M105s on top of my bookshelves. I have port bungs inserted and I have a sealed subwoofer. Getting the speakers tilted to just the right angle and getting the subwoofer volume and crossover just right took probably 20 hours of listening and tweaking and changing but I will say, it is possible to get amazing sound with far less than ideal placement,

I probably wouldn't put them on the floor but you can try it. You will need to tilt them up but nothing prevents you from giving it a shot. Experiment with as many locations as you can.

For book shelf speakers, I like, B&W 804 or 805 models.

The wharfdales are definitely a good introductory hifi book shelf speaker...
However.. With your budget, you will gain some very real benefit from bierfeldt's recommended Monitor Audio Silver 2 speakers... With their unique 8" bass drivers, they will reach lower than almost any book shelf on the market and I also recommend them.

I have owned wharfdales, but have not auditioned the monitor audio line...but they always get good press and the specs alone are definitely worth a serious look.

Best Regards,

Ron

That being said, I think PSB makes awesome speakers and I like every speaker I have ever heard from PSB. I would be a bit concerned about the PSBs with the Music Hall though since they are 4 ohm speakers and are a bit harder to drive than the Monitor Audio Silver 2a. Additionally, the bass response for the PSBs is 52hz vs 40hz. After you insert the port bungs, bass response will get even worse. You will really want a subwoofer with them.

Wharfedale's are less efficient and although the Diamond 10.2 are great, not in the same league as the Monitor Audios.

They are a fine retailer. You can feel perfectly safe ordering from them

These speakers, like many, can be either driven by one cable each, traditionally; or two cables each.. One for the high frequencies and one for the low. (With plus and minus, a total of FOUR connections vs. TWO per speaker.)

They will have metal strips connecting the high with the lows.. Leave the connectors in place!!. Then connect your cable to just the lower plugs.. The straps will carry your signal up to the tweeters.

Also, if there are port bungs installed, remove them to open up the sound. They are only necessary if there is a strong standing bass wave or other bass issues with the room acoustics or speaker placement.

These two suggestions should correct the issue.

Let us now how things turn out -

Best Regards,

Ron