Best Full Range Speakers @ Around $2000?

Thanks to all of the above. I was already thinking of checking out the Hales speakers; I've heard allot of great things about them. And no Sedond, not "real" full range down to 20hz. A speaker like that would probably overwhelm my room. I will consider others in the Thiel line though, such as the 1.5's as suggested by A_e_watkins. My only concern with Thiel is finding an integrated amp that can handle the tough load that many Theil speakers present. Any thoughts? BTW, I'm also considering a pair of monitor speakers instead of "full range" floorstanders. Any favorites?

Thanks Rosstaman. I've been thinking allot about NHT speakers too. My gut tells me that they might work well in my horrible room, because it is my understanding that NHT speakers are not wide dispersion designs. My den is VERY reflective, especially in the upper bass (between 100-200 hz) so a speaker that radiates most of it's energy towards the listener might work well for me. I hope to gather some opinions, and get to listening this weekend. Chow for now!

Thanks again to all. I'm making a short list (well, not that short right now) and I'm planning to start "listening around" this weekend. Trelja, I happen to love Alon speakers. I have their model V mkIII in my main system. My den is a very strange acoustical space for a resonably sized room; it's like bizarro world in there! No matter where I place my Alon I's, I get a huge suckout in the midrange between 400-800hz or so (this also happens to be the crosover region where the woofer and mid driver intersect)...also, the closer the speakers are to the wall, the LESS bass I get; in fact the speakers have to be placed VERY far into the room in order to get decent bass response!?!...The room has hard plaster walls, and half of them are canted from about 4' up. I had a pair of Totem Arro's in the den today which I borrowed from my brother-in-law, and they were no better than the Alon speakers, in fact in most ways, they sounded much worse. This is why I've been also considering smaller monitor speakers; it's now my feeling that ANY floorstander will perform poorly in bizarro world. Again, thanks for all the input, and I'll keep you up to date. Chow.

And yes, just in case my humor gets lost here, I know it's "ciao".....I just find allot of this stuff "chow" for thought. Ciao, for now!

Thanks everyone! Sol322, I'm sure you are correct on all counts. My main system is in a dedicated room with full acoustic treatment from ASC, and the difference between the treated and non-treated room is profound. In fact,I feel that an acoustically correct environment is the MOST important "component" in a hi-rez system. But, alas, I can not accomplish much in my den due to aesthetic restraints. I already take up too much room in my home, and the den needs to function like, well, a den! Even with careful placement, the Alon speakers have poor in-room response, and I too now believe that ANY full range speaker I place in this room will perform poorly. So to that end, I've been auditoning mostly smaller monitor speakers. My favorite so far has been the Dunlavy SC-I; it has very little output (mesured in room response) below about 80Hz, and sounded wonderful when mated with a REL Strata III subwoofer and VTL integrated amp. The REL is positioned for the smoothest bass response, and the Dunalavy's for the cleanest midrange/trebble response. The system was very satisfying on a variety of program material, and since my whole family will be using this rig, that is important. Now if I could only find an SOLID STATE integrated amp that sounds nearly as sweet as the VTL, I might be in business (my husband complained that the den felt like it had a coal stove in it with the heat generated by the VTL, and since this is a non-critical listening system, he pleaded with me to stick with solid state; He also feels, and perhaps rightfully so, that our den system should be reliable and maintenance free)Anyway, I'll be trying some more speaker/amp combos this weekend; if anyone has any favorites, please let me know. With you in the music, Deborah.