What sort of budget do you have in mind, floor standers or monitors, how big is your listening room and do you intend to use the system for music only or audio/visual duty? Also, what kind of music do you listen to?

All important considerations for system matching.

Hey Stu, sorry, I obviously missed your earlier response. I assume from your response you are located in Europe. If you can get psb speakers in your area, I would take a good listen to the B25 monitors. They are heaven with Jazz and vocals and can get the piano right better than most. They also image quite well, though not with the air that the more expensive ones can. They also have presense in spades and can grab you by the balls for such a small monitor. Easy to drive and enough low end extension to do justice with symphonic music.

They really are way better than their price would indicate, which is about 400 US dollars a pair new and considerably cheaper if you look around the net.

Stereophile recommended to boot and I think the review is even posted online.

For some reason, the European press tries to ignore the Canadian speaker manufacturers. Too bad, 'cause there is a lot of good stuff coming out of Canada.

I'm just South of Canada in the heart of Texas. Not to worry though, the speakers aren't voiced with a southern twang to 'em and they aren't likely to start a war between you and your wife.

You might see if you have a JBL dealer near you and see if the JBL E50 might be available. They are a 3 way with an 8" woofer and sell in the US for $300 a pair. They might be the most bang for the buck at $300. The Epos 3's are the same price, but will not have the bass level of the JBL. Without worrying about the last nth of detail the JBLs might bring you much fun. See if you can audition them before buying. I would not buy any speaker without hearing first. They will define your enjoyment of the Yamaha AX 596.