Hey Pavlov,

Haven't heard the former but I have heard the latter and I can give them a BIG thumbs up.

A few years ago my father-in-law asked me to buy him a CD and tuner-based system for about $2500. Isn't it fun spending other people's money! Anyway, about his only bias was that he wanted floor-standing speakers. About my only bias was that I wanted to get him Arcam electronics.

After a couple of hours of listening I walked out with Harman Kardon electronics and the Audience 42 (bookshelves), the combination of which blew away everything else in the shop that was even close in price.

I listen to them every time I am round there and still feel a flush of satisfaction over how great they sound. He has never mentioned floor-standers since.

Good luck and have fun choosing!

PS Two other bookshelves you may want to consider (regardless of price you said) are Spendor S3s and B&W 805s, both of which can sound superb with the right ancillaries.