@spenav it appears like you follow Erin’s work.
The point I was trying to make was that the Kii is indeed a top contender as is the Genelec. Those two are active.
And also on Erin’s site was a passive example.
So all three are in a multi-way tie for first place.
Which sort of means that one can achieve something nice, any way they choose to go, in that cost range of ~4-8 k$.
I do not see active getting a whole lot cheaper on the higher end.
There will undoubtedly be cheaper offerings, using cheaper drivers, and other corners cut… That will make the economy side have a better SQ, but they will be lacking SQ wise compared to the Kii and Genelec offerings.