Speakers - Your "Safest" Choice

I recently acquired a pair of Marten Parker Duos and matching stands for about that much, and I am extremely happy with them. I auditioned them at a dealer along with speakers from YG and Dynaudio, and the Marten sound appealed to me more for rock music, which is mostly what I listen to; they rock out even at lower volumes; I've got a 200 wpc SS amp, but I'd think they'd do perfectly well with 125 wpc. 

I'd take a trip to FLA to shop $40k speakers selling for $15k, in fact I'd make it an annual event.

Harbeth

Just because you have $20k to spend on speakers doesn't mean you should or that any speaker represents value.  Yamaha NS-5000 speakers were introduced in 2016 for $15k.  They took a while to get to the USA, but are still $15k.  That's $19,200 in today's dollars.  They are state-of-the-art in so many ways and really an incredible value. Check them out and give them a listen.

Safe model? Odd premise in a world of subjectivity.