MiniMonitor 33lbs w/realistic vocals,not bright.

Well, as far as the weight goes, I was looking for something roughly in the size & shape range of the Quad 12Ls (~20lbs each), as opposed to some bigger box, so I decided to focus on the weight as pointing to the class of speaker I wanted to keep the frame of reference in some reasonable limits.
I have Harbeth SHL5s in my main system and didn't want speakers that large & heavy for this system.

OK, thanks everyone. I guess I was looking to spend < $2500, new or used.

Yep, others have steered me to the 1SC (ProAc).
I need to look at an amp too I guess.
You would think with everybody into computer music these days there would be a higher presence of high end active speakers beyond ATC, Quad and PMC and some Swans. I think that's why the little active Quads have so much media attention & reviews, as they don't have much competition.

Well, I got a pair of old Sonus Faber Cremona Auditors and they are just great. So much better than the Quads (12Ls, now used on my computer, doing a nice job there for youtube).

The Auditors have really smooth but lifelike gorgeous vocals, the bass is solid with some hints of deep bass, highs are sweet too. They aren't totally transparent but they throw a very credible soundstage that sounds very right to me, and they sound driverless. Overall, I think I like them better than my Harbeth SHL5s (I like the vocals better in the Auditors, no ringing and more rounded with better texture). But they are very different speakers from the Harbeths, which have a fuller big speaker sound with bigger images. But I like the tonality of the Auditors better, with more detailed texture. I never had Sonus Fabers before.
I'm looking for some good speaker cables for them now.

(The only problem is I like them so much I'm eyeing the Guarnari Mementos, but I need to resist the upgradeitis bug, at least until I sell some old eqpt. & cables...)

Thanks for taking the time for all that info Stearnsn! That sure was comprehensive. I really appreciate it.