@ilikeclassical , thank you for posting your room's dimensions.
This past Sunday I attended the SouthWest Audio Fest in Dallas with my wife, and she and I agreed on what our second-favorite room was. Surprisingly it was actually one of the SMALL rooms, probably slightly smaller than your room. The speakers in that room were the Rosso Fiorentino "Volterras". Their timbre was rich and full-bodied, and their spatial presentation was "you are there", which is extremely rare for a small room at an audio show. They had very solid and natural-sounding bass, which is a requirement for my wife (she's a drummer).
I was listening with my "critical" ears on... I'm a speaker manufacturer and was hoping to hear something WRONG with my competition. Song after song only reinforced my disturbingly-positive first impression.
The Volterras are priced slightly north of your price range, but imo are worth considering if the budget isn't carved in stone. The only room my wife and I liked better was several times the size, and was using speakers about ten times the price.
I have been a dealer for twenty-four years and a speaker manufacturer for nineteen years. I have zero affiliation with Rosso Fiorentino, just giving credit where credit's due.
Duke