best monitor speaker under $2000

Depends on your room size, musical tastes, listening preferences, etc.

Speakers are probably THE most subjective component in any system.

As mentioned by the others, you need to get out and hear as many different types as possible, so you can at least tell us what you do and don't like in brands. A few examples and I'm sure everyone can come up with some great suggestions.

Having owned Rotel(amp/preamp) and B&W together, they are a good match initially, but over the long run I, personally, found the slightly lean nature of the Rotel preamp and the zippy high-end of B&W became fatiguing and etched. It was through this that I learned I am partial to soft dome tweeters over metal in lower end speaker.

My suggestion is the used Jean Marie Reynaud Trente($1,400) speakers here on Audiogon as long as hard rock/heavy metal/electronica is not your primary music of choice.

They are extremely easy to place for good sound, have fantastic soundstage and imaging, and really present a deeply rich sound. If anything, they might err slightly on the warm, forgiving, side. But, their performance improves as your system does up to a very, very, high level. Match them with a good tube integrated and forget about it!

Agreed that you can do much better musically than the Rotel and still meet your budget of $2k + the $500 you'd get for the Rotel.

I'd still recommend the JMR Trentes along with a used Yba Integre DT integrated($1,100) to come in at ~$2,500.

Or, if tubes are an option, Trentes with a Melody/Onix SP-9, SP-3, or H88. Tubes + JMR is truly something of beauty to behold.

This all depends on how big your room is, musical tastes, listening volume, and what type of sound you prefer.