I'm a Phase Tech junky, don't ask me why, I currently own four pairs of Phase Tech speakers, the best of which being my Phase Tech pc1.1II. I've owned other brands of speakers in the past from the likes of NHT, Mission, Kef, Axiom, JMLab, and Vandersteen. In the past five years or so, I've strictly owned and loved the sound of Phase Tech. The PC1.1II's sounded amazing in the living room of my condo. I thought I would own them for a long time. As many of you might know, Phase Tech speakers are voiced to sound either neutral or the warm side of neutral. They don't scoure out the last bit of detail from a recording. The PC1.1II, are dead on neutral, with an excellent tonal balance from top to bottom.
Here is where the problem lies. I moved to a new house and have a dedicated listening room. The room basically sounds dead and the neutral Phase Tech's now sound dark and uninvolving. I need a speaker that is lively with a clear and transparent midrange, and my budget is only $300 new or used. My listening room is carpeted and 12'x14'.
The only speakers that I can currently think of that fit this are the Kef iq1, Kef iq3, and Kef Iq5, as well as the amazing Mission m70 with a small sub.
My amps are the Yarland tube amp and Harman Kardon hk680.
If you are starting with neutral and the room pushes it toward dark, it doesn't really make sense to say you want something colored to make up for the room's problems. Once you have deviations from neutral you will always have unpredictable deviations from neutral. Better to make the room work with the neutral speakers you like.