Standmount speakers. I have $5000.

The Dynaudio Confidence C1s are the best stand mounts I have heard.-and by a big margin.You can get a second hand pair of them for $5000.The next tier down Contours are decent but nowhere near the C1s.

@usery - This is my first post on the forum, although I've been a lurker for many many years :) Really felt like I could help in your case:
For your largish room and music tastes, I'd recommend a floorstander with a smaller footprint of a standmount. The Focal 1028 Be would be incredible for your room and are on sale at musicdirect for $5K: https://www.musicdirect.com/biggest-holiday-specials/Focal-Electra-1028-Be-Tower-Speakers
Focal is liquidating the last few pairs available of the Electras since they launched the Sopra series to replace the Electras (but at a higher price point) and Kanta series to fill the gap at the Electras original price point.
  
I've had the Electra 1028 Be for the last few years and have been super happy with them. At $5K brand new they're an incredible value with the Beryllium tweeter and W sandwich cones. I am driving them with Pass Labs Class A monoblocks, with Auralic Aries streamer, Chord M Scaler/Hugo2 DAC, and supported by a JL Audio F113 sub (for the last octave 20-40hz) in a largish 20'x30' room that opens into another room. The sound is just superb and I listen to all kinds of music including EDM, Classical, Jazz, Rock, Blues, Funk, etc. Previously I was using the B&W Signature 805 standmounts (which I still have btw), and while I haven't listened extensively to the newer 800 D3 series I always felt like with B&W you need to turn the volume up to get them to sing. With Focal Electras and their 91.5 db sensitivity, you could be playing at a whisper and still feel the music's impact. Also, at 72 lbs they're relatively easy to set up and move around by yourself without needing help.

If you really have to have standmounts, musicdirect also has the Electra 1008 Be standmounts available for $3K. There was another poster who recommended the Sopra 1, and I believe the Electra 1008 would get you 80-90% there for much cheaper. Of course if you can swing the Sopra 1s, go for it as they're absolutely superb. But for your room and music tastes, a well set up Electra 1028 with the subs would be a hard combo to beat at your budget, by most standmounts out there. The only other standmount that could directly compete around this price would be the Kef Reference 1, believe another poster had also recommended and could be had for ~$5K used. Hope this helps! Enjoy!

jmolsberg 09-09-2019 5:42pm EST
 ^ believe OP said he had curious cats

jm is right: floor-standers are out, mostly due to maladjusted cat members of family.  There's also some feng shue pressure from spouse.

Separately there seems to be the occasional weird Audiogon forum admin deletes of posts in this thread (like jm's, above).  I've seen it before in other threads and I called the admins out on it.  Their explanations fell short.