I auditioned Paradigm Reference Series, Polk LSi's, but went finally with ACI Sapphire III's (oops a little over 1K priced at 1200. They have a smoothness that the others lack.
I would give them (or their little brother, the Opals) a look
at www.audioc.com
If you notice on ACI's website, you you'll see that they are discontinuing the Sapphire III LE's due to the stop in production of the particular woofers that they will be using. As a result, they have limited options for finishes. I tried to choose the oak finish due to no additional cost...
Well, I got my Sapphires on Tuesday and have been "breaking" them in for the past several days. This consisted on reversing the polarity on one of the speakers and having them face eachother, then covering them with enough pillows and blankets to quiet them, then playing about 20 hours or so of...
Dosn't look like anyone has done any direct comparions between these two speakers Polk vs Paradigm, according to this forum. After a bunch of reading and self-rationalization, I ended up with the ACI Sapphire III LE's. Yeah, a wee bit more...but after reading enough reviews and comparions with...