Well, I went for the AE Compact-1s in the end. Their size and suitability for placing near a wall made them ideal and the deal that AV Bristol had on made them easy winners. Got full financial controller approval :silenced:
Finally got them set up in the newly enlarged study and giving them a gentle work out. A bit of late night opera, as I don't want to wake the little ones. First impressions: they sound great, really impressed with the stereo image and lovely sound. Need to run them in, as the half-hour's play they've had probably means I'm not doing them full justice yet.
I've missed having my trusty a85 on hifi duties. I was so desperate to get it set up, it's taken me two days to find the chord rumour 2 speaker cables, thank you Mrs Scene for finding them where I had already looked - twice! I'm now sitting among boxes, partly assembled Ikea bookshelves (no doors on) in a folding chair having a bit of an Andy Dufresne moment