Bang for the buck

I like your idea of the KEF R3s.  If the KEF sound is to your taste they are less picky about placement than many other brands. This is helpful in a smaller room where there are limited placement options.  Down the road you will want to upgrade the sub.

As others have mentioned, what ever gear you have it will only sound as good as the room allows.  Room treatments are the biggest no brainer out there!  Cheers

In a small room a KEF LS50 Meta + a KEF KC62 sub is a killer combo. I loved this combo for the past year+. I sold the sub recently and looking to sell the LS50 Meta because my new amp does not play nice with subs. I will be getting the KEF Reference 1 meta for the same small room (no sub needed).

I am listening to the LS50 Meta right now with a CODA #16 amp and the amount of bass is the most I have ever heard (without a sub). The rush to upgrade on this sound is not that great, but I will eventually. The CODA #16 plays fine with subs, it is another amp that I am working to play nice in this room.

Only caveat is that you need power for the LS5 Meta to get the best out of them like I am. Though high quality power is not that expensive.

I’m in a similar situation to @labguy, and have been looking for a pair of speakers in the $2000 or less range. The JBL 580/590 has been on my list, but I am having a hard time hitting the buy button. I read tons of great reviews, but I wonder if they sound great because of the cost, or if they sound great period. My room is small at 12’x12’, but I’ll be moving to a larger room (12’x18’) in the next year or so, after a home renovation. I’ve read comments about the 590’s overpowering small rooms, but no mention of what a small room is. Also on my short list is the Sonus Faber Lumina 5’s. I heard these at a hifi shop and was pretty impressed, but it wasn’t in my room with my equipment, and the dealer is 3 hours away, so in home demo’s aren’t really an option. My last strong consideration is a kit speaker from CSS audio, the TD1X with the 3 way bass module add on. I’ve read glowing review after glowing review, and it sounds like these lean to the warm side of presentation, which I strongly prefer. With cross over upgrades, flat pack cabinets, and the bass modules, these come in under $2000, allowing money for veneers and finishing. My gut tells me I’m getting the most speaker for the money on the CSS kit, because I’m adding my labor for assembly and finish work, and there’s no distributer/dealer mark up, which is likely the bulk of the cost of a $2000 speaker. 

I just sold my CSS Criton 1TDX. They are a very nice speaker and definitely lean to the warm side but are still detailed enough and are dynamic. Remind me a lot of higher end Dynaudios. Also they like power. 

Damn! I didn’t know that add on bass module existed! I likely would have kept them and tried out the bass module had I known. I prefer a 3 way for more dynamic music.