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90s/00s High End Monitors

I'm thinking Totem Model 1s in various iterations. Even Mani2s (with good amps). Others like JM Labs/Focal Micro Utopias. Lots of Dynaudio and Proacs.
 
By "monitors" I mean the colloquial definition of the term, i.e. small speakers designed for use with stands or placed on a bookshelf.
Beyond small speakers, I'm not looking for anything specific, I meant this thread to be used for informational purposes, and didn't want to narrow the criteria too much.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I've updated the OP to include speakers from the 80s, as that is when I consider the beginning of "modern" speakers, i.e. computer designed with advanced materials.

I'm liking blueshadow's NHT SB3 recommendation. NHT is a great, no-nonsense brand that I had forgotten about. Similar to EPI in the 70s, great sound for a reasonable price. Admittedly I intended the focus of the thread to be on the speakers originally in the $2000+ range but which have since become much cheaper, but for small speakers at that price I think the high price buys you better build quality and finishing rather than better sound.
 
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corbin said:
Admittedly I intended the focus of the thread to be on the speakers originally in the $2000+ range but which have since become much cheaper, but for small speakers at that price I think the high price buys you better build quality and finishing rather than better sound.
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Well that leaves the Rogers et.al. LS3/5a out as it was cheap and has climbed to 2000+.

Paradigm Compact Monitors below your original buy-in but most of what we are going to recommend will be below that 2k level as most folks here are more vintage than the era of expensive small speakers. Stereophile reviewed the SB3 as well as the C3 that followed it and liked em both with the newer speaker having improvements over its predecessor.
 
Anything from Harbeth, for quality at least. Not sure any of them have become 'cheap', but maybe.

There are probably also electrostatic bargains to be had, and although they are not thought of as 'monitors', if you wanted to hear what you are actually recording or playing, they are hard to beat.
 
Pretty much anything with Morel drivers.

Renaissance Audio Duet
Merlin TSM-mm (and variants)
Grant Fidelity RBS-1
VAO Design Zero
Madisound Ziv
Codia Acoustic AIR
Tetra 406
Fritz Speakers
 
Boston Acoustics VR-M60 and M50's. Below your listed price points ($1000 and $700 MSRP), but a lot of speaker for the $200 to $300 they go for these days. They were released in late 1999.
Brochure: http://www.specsserver.com/CACHE/FILE18009.PDF.

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I've done a little more research and would add Sony's SS-M3 speakers from the 90s to the list. Originally retailed for $900, which is $1500 today. They boast quite the feature list including phase coherence and European-sourced drivers.

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I would run them sans grills as they look so cool!
 

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corbin said:
By "monitors" I mean the colloquial definition of the term, i.e. small speakers designed for use with stands or placed on a bookshelf.
Click to expand...

That's not a studio monitor, it's a bookshelf speaker on a stand. So high end small speakers.

Most studios will have small and larger speakers so they have a range of how their work will sound on different size speakers.
 
An oddball and rare in the States, but JBL XPL 90 are killer monitors, especially on their bespoke stands (far right in pic). They went for quite some change in the early 90s, feature phase aligned drivers, anti diffraction front baffles, and JBLs best hifi drivers of the time.

649401409_large_aeb66c44dfadcdc1b34f40bd38576aea.jpg
 
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