Most importantly, what sound are you going for? I was looking around at that price range 10 months ago and was trying to decide between Kef R11s, Focal 948s and Klipsch Cornwall 4s. I ended up getting a pair of Sonus Faber Sonetto VIIIs through the trade up program and they are amazing. My only regret is not having enough to go for the Olympica Novas.
Recently I've been auditioning a bunch around the 10k range and the Focal Kanta 2's are excellent speakers. Very punchy bass, crisp detail and something I'd consider getting. The McIntosh XR100s are also a rather interesting pair of speakers. HUGE sound stage and a fun speaker to listen to on the right setup. I heard them on a Prima Luna with EL34s and a Moon integrated and it was awesome, but on a McIntosh setup they were way to laid back and polite. The Revel 228be and Kef Reference 3's are a bit of a let down, very dull sounding and boring. Same goes for the pair of ELAC speakers at that point.
Currently I'm waiting around for a good used pair of Sf Olympica Novas, Focal Kantas, or possibly a pair of Wilson Audio speakers to pop up locally at a resonable price.
speaker choice for new 20x30 audio room
Finally getting an opportunity to set up a dedicated audio room. Its a separate out building from the house. 2x6 construction, fully insulated 20' wide 30' with 10' ceilings. Full HVAC and adding padded and carpet floor over 6" existing concrete floor. After heavy texture and new paint, I plan to add acoustic treatments, just he basics for starters, bass traps, wall panels, ceiling clouds and going with a rule of thirds layout for speaker placement.
For now I will be running everything from an Emotiva Pre-Amp, Peachtree 500 Amp, Bluesound Node for streamer and a Pontus II DAC.
Budget for the new speakers will be $5000 to $10,000. this will be a dedicated listening room, We listen to everything from Dianna Krall to Metallica Classic Rock, Blues, Country.. you name it. Just looking for recommendations of speakers I should be considering for this specific room dimension.