Considering Towers in the $3000 range

Good choice to try, and good luck. Give them at least a couple of hundred hours to break in. Thanks for the tip on Bush Dance. Great Music. Check out Lee Ritenour's Six String Theory cd on those speakers.

+1 for the Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower speakers. I’ve been using the bookshelf version Sierra 2 EX, and they are hard to beat, expecially for the price, but the towers take it to another level. Not quite up to the Revel Salon 2 speakers in my family room, but for the price, they are wonderful.  And I believe you can get a 30 day trial with them, too. 

Tekton Double Impact, read the reviews on YouTube 

Best by far in that price range IMHO

Glad you see the potential in the Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G speakers. And  thanks for the suggestion of "Night in Tunisia". Have you heard the "Calypso Minor" from the "Sotho Blue" album of Abdullah Ibrahim yet? Should be played through your 500 7G set ASAP...

Thanks @will3.  I am not familiar with that track, but have listened to some Abdullah Ibrahim.  I plan to check it out later today.