Hello everyone,
I am looking for a pair of monitor speakers and a power amp to drive the speakers. If anyone had any experience on a good speakers/power amp combo for around $500.00, would you please share?

Many thanks in advance,
..rb

 I have found that speakers and seperate power amplifires is not as good a choice today as powered monitors. The difference is not only less wires and space, but that the studio monitors selling today are bi-amped which gives you the cleanest sound and best signal to noise ratio.
M-Audio makes a pair or speakers called the Studiophile SP-8B, which have an 8" woofer and 55 watts goes to this speaker and 45watts goes to the tweeter. The tweeter can be swiveled to aim right at where you are sitting. These speakers have been great sellers at a price of $499.00 a pair. There are others available at this price range but in my opinion none as good. This company also offers a smaller version called the SP-5B's which sell for $299.00 a pair and have less power and are smaller in size. I have included some of the text from the midiman website which highlights these very good studio reference monitors.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, california
818-881-5566

"M-Audio Studiophile SP-8B
Bi-amplified studio reference monitors.

The affordable new standard in near-field monitoring.
Good monitors are essential in turning out mixes that you can trust to sound good when played outside your studio. Our design team set out to prove that world-class reference monitors don’t have to cost a fortune. The result is M-Audio’s affordable new Studiophile line of near-field monitors, delivering exceptional quality at amazingly affordable prices. The big brother to the SP-5B, the SP-8B offers two-way bi-amped near-field technology that delivers 100 watts of professional sound at a fraction of the cost of other monitors.

Why a pair of SP-8B's?
The key to the SP-8B’s accurate sound is the synergistic design and integration of all elements, thus providing superior performance and fidelity over component systems. Specially designed network and power amplifiers properly distribute low, mid, and high frequencies to reduce distortion and power loss. We’ve further optimized the active circuitry to deliver flat frequency response, smooth transition in the crossover region, and maximized power handling.

Our engineers also had a few other tricks up their sleeves. The SP-8B’s 1-inch silk tweeter is swivel mounted so that you can adjust its position for ultimate control over imaging and sweet spots. The tweeter also incorporates magnetic shielding to minimize reaction time, as well as Ferro-Fluid and internal damping technologies to minimize resonance. The 8-inch driver features a magnetically shielded mineral-filled polypropylene cone with a high-temperature tolerant voice coil and damped rubber surround. The SP-8B also has amazing bass despite the small footprint of the enclosure, thanks to a Sub-Frequency Port designed to discharge extreme low frequencies below 30 Hz.


The tweeter is swivel mounted so that you can adjust the position and direction of the tweeter. This unique feature accommodates various loudspeaker-mounting positions, allowing great control over imaging. More control over your listening experience is always better. The Sub-Frequency Port discharges extreme low frequencies under 30 Hz. The SP-8B is designed to take advantage of this port to generate extreme low frequencies despite the small footprint of the enclosure..
 
Specs:
If you’re like most people, you probably don’t need to know that the SP-8B excels in damping radial, concentric and combination modes of vibration, or how the cones were specifically designed to further extend and smooth the response beyond the normal cone breakup frequency. Blah blah blah. Let the engineers worry about that. Your ears will tell you everything you need to know. But since most people feel better after reading geeky details, here are some of the ones we thought you would like to know:

• Type: 2-way near field monitors (8-inch woofer, 1-inch tweeter)
• Crossovers: 4th-order Linkwitz Riley
• Input Connectors: XLR balanced, TRS balanced/ unbalanced
• Input Sensitivity: 200 mV input produces full output with Input Sensitivity control at maximum
• Input Impedance: 20k ohms balanced, 10K ohms unbalanced
• Protection: RF interference, output current limiting, over temperature, transient on/off, subsonic filter, external main fuse
• S/N Ratio: > 100dB below full output, 20kHz bandwidth
• Frequency Response: 33Hz - 22kHz
• Crossover Frequency: 1.8kHz
• LF Amplifier Power: 55W
• HF Amplifier Power: 45W
• Indicator: Power on/off indicator on front panel
• Power Requirements: Factory programmed for either 115V-50/60Hz, 230V-50/60Hz or 100V-50/60Hz; Power via detachable 3-circuit line cord.
• Dimension:14.97 in. (h) x 9.5 in. (w) x 11.82 in. (d)
• Weight: 57 lbs.

The Studiophile series is based on the same philosophy that has been so successful for the Delta soundcard line: Make professional, reliable, well-crafted audio equipment that anyone can afford and people will use it.
Also available: Studiophile SP-8S subwoofer for bone-rattling bass in your face. "

George,
Thanks for the advice. But after listening to all some of the active monitors at the local shop here, I ended up with a Roland KC500 instead.

And the KC500 is a good keyboard amp with a lot of volume and lows. It is very different than studio monitors which are designed for studio listening where the KC500 is designed for live amplification. Enjoy your new addition.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene