I was in the market in this segment for a while and have heard a few of the things mentioned in this thread, so will share my $.02. As always, no offense intended to those who disagree. :)
Paradigm Persona: I have heard the B's and 3F's and just couldn't warm up to them. They sounded rather brittle and not organic at all, klling tonal and dynamic nuances. The combination of beryllium drivers and 3rd order x-over just does not work for my ears.
Focal Sopra: I think I heard the bigger ones, not the No. 1's - Jerry Siegel @ 10audio likes the No. 1 and I have liked a number of components that he does. That said, the bigger Sopras do some things well but I just can't get over the Focal voicing which is slightly forward and nasal and a bit fatiguing and unnatural to my ears.
TAD: Yet another hard-sounding speaker to my ears. Perhaps I just didn't hear them set up properly (it was with an Ayre EX8 which didn't sound like a good match at all) but the midrange was thin, upper midrange coarse and treble peaky. I have yet to hear a beryllium driver my ears can tolerate.
Dynaudio Special 40: a very fun speaker, big tone and dynamics but the bass response is not very even, sounds underdamped and resonated badly on certain cello notes.
Dynaudio Contour 20: a more detailed and neutral speaker than the Special 40, but a little dry and uninspiring. I found the Special 40 more enjoyable.
Boenicke: I heard the W7, but I imagine the W5 has a similar character. A very interesting speaker, cool looking and full of character which can be a pro or a con depending on your ears. The cabinet is designed to have some sympathetic resonance which can sound magical but colored. Same for imaging, it initially sounds holographic and spacious but after a while it feels a little gimmicky. If you like euphonic effects it could be great, but it's not what I would call accurate.
Audiovector SR 1 Arreté: This, along with the Silverline SR17 Supreme, was my reference monitor for a couple years, until I upgraded to the SR 6. It lacks some body, is finicky to match and sounds a little flat at lower volumes, but dialed in just right it's remarkably transparent and insightful, and for such a small speaker it is amazingly clean playing crazy loud. I find it preferable to all of the above, and the new R1 model should be better (less dry).
Silverline SR17 Supreme: For situations where the Audiovector was a bit too lean and analytical, I turned to the Silverline. Some of the best drivers Dynaudio has every produced, perfectly meshed with a minimal crossover that results in a more seamless, organic sound than anything I've heard from Dynaudio themselves. Only major knock is the cabinet has some lower midrange resonance which results in some congestion at high volumes, rather euphonic with acoustic music but the Audiovector is cleaner for rock/electronic. A music lover's speaker that doesn't sacrifice resolution or transparency.
Wilson TuneTot: the pair I heard wasn't fully broken in, but regardless it was wholly unremarkable.
I haven't heard the Fritz speakers - was in touch with them but didn't get around to an audition - but have very good things about them.
I know the OP was looking for a bookshelf, and I am a mini monitor fanatic myself, but for $10k I would try to check out the Audiovector R 3 Arreté. It has pretty much all the virtues of a bookshelf, with dynamics and bottom end few can match, and the footprint is tiny. TAS just published a review.
