Floor standers that can rock out with NAD M10 in smaller room

I’m looking floor stander recommendations for my brother who appreciates good sound but isn’t an audiophile; he relies on me (30+ yr audiophile) for advice.  After fiddling for years with components he wasn’t enthusiastic about and were too cumbersome, we’ve decided the NAD M10 streamer/DAC/100w class D integrated w/room correction best suits his needs and lifestyle.

His listening is 90% rock, pop and folk. His room is small-ish at 13x16 ft with speakers on the short dimension. He doesn’t often play his music loud but wants to be able to on occasion and said he doesn’t require earth shattering bass.

For many years he had and liked the Vandersteen 2CE, but his cat used them as a scratching post (tore up the grills, twice) and he felt they were too physically large for his space. I recently got him PSB Imagine Ts and he was lukewarm on them; me too. We haven’t gotten the M10 yet but plan to give the PSBs a try on it.

He’s interested in floor standers with a relatively slim profile and would like to keep them under $1,500 used. My listening is similar. I’m a sucker for great imaging and musicality and loved Totem Model 1s I tried years ago but not older Hawks, which sounded a bit lifeless. Forests would probably fit the bill but they’re too $$$.  Not sure Sky Towers would do the job.  Monitor Audio Silver 300s and Nola Contenders (v 1) came up as reasonable options, based on research.

Can anyone share their thoughts/experience with the above and throw out some other recommendations I hadn’t thought about?