Depends on what he means by 'bookshelf'. I've still got these collecting dust in a condo in Germany, where I rarely visit anymore.

https://www.highfidelityreview.com/creative-sbs260-speakers....

Clear and distortion-free. Probably depending on how you drive your line-out, but mine just worked.

Stereo 2.0! (Giggle..)

The room isn't that large, but they really could fill it with sound, or the nearest neighborhood, if put on the balcony on summer evenings :-)