I have been using Dali Lektors and a 9" Dali sub at my 160cm x 80cm desk in my 4x4m office, but I want to upgrade and at the same time ditch the sub. But all this talk about: active vs passive, nearfield vs normal, for monitoring or home use, needs to be placed away from the wall etc. just drives me crazy. I just want a 2.0 setup with some omph, preferably under 2k$.

Thanks,
Jokko

Since you were using passive Dalis, I'm going to assume you already have a suitable speaker amp in place, so there really isn't a need for active monitors. Did you just plop your old speakers down on your desk surface, or did you use something like MoPads or little monitor stands, or floor stands? What are your expectations about bass response?

Getting even half way decent sound from speakers on a desk environment can be a little tricky, so you will want to be smart about your choices and placement options. Just throwing money at speakers isn't enough.

That's also a small room for a sub. You'd be better off with a midsize speakers with decent bass response, and use the wall to provide more. Since you already have an amp in place... meh, used KEF LS50 for ~$1.2k and spend the rest on stands, acoustic treatment and recreational beverages of choice.

I have a NAD 3020(500$?), its very compact. The speakers I put on silicone feet, with the two front ones being taller so they tilted upwards. Regarding bass, I`m not a bass fanatic, but I need bass. My 4,5" dalis alone certainly didn't deliver on Daft Punk`s - Get Lucky (you know, the drums in the start).

Gotcha. Keep in mind that bass extension pretty much stops at 40Hz from any small to medium sized two-way, even those with transmission lines like PMC's DB1. Physics and all that.

Something that I haven't tried in a desktop environment but I'm curious about is how a MTM behaves at that distance. The MTM would seem to have several advantages on a desktop - a large but narrow cabinet allowing for greater interior volume for added bass extension, combined with the air movement of twin drivers without taking up as much desk space as would be required for a single 6.5" or 8" driver. Additionally, the MTM doesn't have the lobing issues of a non time-aligned two-way, so there would be no need to tilt the cabinet back, provided the tweeter is positioned at ear level. Additionally, the MTM creates a vertical null which would seem to be ideal as the main issue with nearfield monitors is desk surface reflection, which you'll hear before the ceiling reflection, front wall reflection, or side wall reflection points.

Has anyone tried this? Are there significant downsides that I'm missing?

Thats actually a really cool idea. I can see the "narrowness" would be appealing on the desk. How does this work in reality, just buy a couple center speakers and put them vertically?

No, you would want dedicated MTM monitors. They aren't nearly as common as traditional two-ways, but they are out there. The one I pictured above is the Clearwave Symphonia Mini which pairs two 4.5" Seas Excel drivers with an Accuton ceramic dome tweeter. It's $2k/pr. Clearwave also sells a similar model called the Aperture S52 using different drivers, two 5.25" SB Acoustics woofers with a ScanSpeak Illuminator Air Circ in the middle.

I haven't heard these two, but in terms of driver quality per dollar, they are up there with Fritz as pretty much the best in the industry. Those SS Air Circ tweeters for example are about $200/ea. No low rent soft domes in these puppies.

It might be a different kind of FOTM from a different group of people, but I've picked up an interest in Amphion from browsing over at Gearslutz. Both the pro and the consumer ranges are passive, so no need to throw away the amplifier.