After looking over your recommendations, I've found the following and listened to several both on and off your list.
Listened to the Energy Reference Connoisseur towers and bookshelf's. Very nice indeed but too pricey... bookshelf's @ $700 a pair where I auditioned them! The bookshelf was very detailed but laid back compared to the Totem Rainmakers ($1079/pair) or the Axioms M22's. I also listened to the towers ($1800). Very sweet sounding speakers but could fill out an entire Axiom system, including sub, for the price of the towers alone! I also had a go with the Energy C series. I won't go into them, suffice it to say they weren't the Reference Connoisseur's!
Checked with Onix Rocket which will allow demoing of their bookshelf's only, in Canada! Which is fine except I want to hear their center. Can't really make a decision without a listen first!
I currently have PSB's Image C40 center ($415) and B-15 bookshelf ($450/pair) on loan for home demo. Unfortunately they were out of the B-25's as this was the speaker I wanted to demo! The imaging and clarity are easily on par with the Axiom speakers I demoed at jakewash's house.
I didn't change anything in my amp for this initial test. I replaced my center and mains for the demo. The first thing I tried was the movie Jurassic Park. The opening scene where the first base note hits exposed the B-15's inability to handle strong bass. "Chuffing" or port noise was excessive...I thought I blew them up! It was clear this speaker couldn't be used for mains. I reset my mains and moved the 15's to the rears and tried again, with much better results! The opening bass was clear and strong. The C40 center highs are more pronounced compared my center. Clear, crisp and smooth. Dialog was much better focused on the display and exhibited a nice blending with my mains. They are almost spot on to my mains in the bass to mid range but exhibit brighter highs! This seemed to add, rather than distract, to the overall sound. At times I noted sibilance in the dialog. Could be the amp settings since I didn't change anything!? I could probably tame this through the amp's center channel's equalization.
I played "Sin City" with fabulous results. Very clean and clear sounding with a nice balance and blending overall. Next was "Nightmare Before Christmas". I've always found the dialog and center effects to be "soft" and "wispy". With the C40 there was a marked improvement running at similar volumes to my old center. I won't say it was louder just cleaner/clearer sounding. We watched two "new" movies, so I can only comment that the sound and dialog was very good overall!
This morning I ran the amp's auto setup and test drove the speakers for my neighbour! I replayed the opening of Jurassic Park. He commented on the dialog's clarity even with all they commotion in the "Raptor's/cage" intro! We popped in some Stevie Ray Vaughn to compare the B-15's with my speakers. The 15's sounded very good! Then we tried mine, same track, same volume...mine were fuller and more dynamic, just less "bright". Understandably so, as mine have soft dome tweeter's and the 15's are aluminum. Mine are also much larger bookself's with good bass and more laid back highs. The imaging for both are about equal. As for colouring or neutrality I can't comment. I've had my system 15 years and everything just sounds different to me!
They also have a PSB C60 center with larger drivers, 6.5" as opposed to the C40's 5.25". I'll swap out the C40 for the C60. This should enhance the center's low to mid end and it should be a closer match to my mains 7.25" driver. I'll let you know what I've found after the swap!
