"Best" mini-monitor?


I have a relatively small listening room (12x10) and have always owned mini-monitors.  Currently I have proac tablette anniversaries, but have had the original 15 ohm rogers ls3/5a, proac response 1, KEF, and reference 3a through out the years.  As you can see, these are all moderate priced speakers, having never spent more than 3k on any pair.  I am now in a position to spend a bit more money, certainly 5k, and maybe up to 10k.  So what out there should I be listening to?  I am in the Chicago area, so I would love something that I can listen to at a local (Midwest) dealer, but I do travel a lot and have auditioned/purchased things across the country from time to time.  New or used, does not matter to me.

as you can probably guess, I really don't care much about deep base, but live for soundstage and warm midrange, listening to a lot of female vocalists, acoustic rock/jazz/blues, and light (non full orchestra) classical.  

With my musical tastes, I have always loved el34 tube amps.  I currently have the prima Luna hp premium, which has 4 el34 per channel, giving me in the 70 wpc range, more than enough for a small room.  I am running naim digital source material (no bad remarks from the analog folks... I know I have have traded off).

so, what should I spend time auditioning?  I have used "best" in quotes because of the 10k price limit, but I suspect there are many more candidates below 10k than above it.

thanks.

Bill


meiatflask
Merlin TSMs. I had the Mmm version and it was phenomenal in a smaller room. In the bigger room they ran out of steam and lost Impact being the reason I sold them. One of the few speakers I miss. 
Usher Be-718/Dance Mini X Diamond...
Raidho Eben X-Baby
Radiho Ayra C1
Dynaudio Special 40
Triangle Magellan Duetto
Magico Mini II

Having owned Spendor S3e, Merlin MME , Usher Be-718, Spica TC60 and a few others, my favorite to date have been Volent VL-2.  

With that said, I currently like both Devore O/96 and O/93 models.  They had a palpable sound at low listening levels.


I think I would narrow it down, first by the type of drivers you prefer. Example: I like soft dome tweeters and could not survive ribbons.
You might have a Wilson Benesch dealer near you. If so the Vertex is certainly light years ahead of most speakers. Featuring downward firing ports, carbon fiber cabinet, soft dome tweeter re-inforced with carbon fiber. Clean, fast accurate and most importantly they have soul. 

http://wilson-benesch.com/products/vertex-stand-mounted-loudspeaker.html