Unless a speaker is really poorly designed, I don't think you should expect night and day differences because they all have their limits. Certainly enough difference to rank preferences though. From looking at the models you previously owned - Infinity, Polk and Cambridge models, the night and day or "blowing them out of the water" differences probably don't exist. It seems you have gone through a lot of different bookshelf speakers and all will have limits without a subwoofer. Picking up a quality subwoofer is probably the best thing you can do to boost performance.

I’m armed and I’m drinking. You don’t want to listen to advice from me, amigo.

-Max Payne