You and me both. I started out looking at the new B&W 800 series V D3 and quickly turned the page based on the new pricing.
I'll answer your question this way.
I'm an unabashed Salk fanboy now and I think you could spend less than $10k and come away with a dream speaker...while I love my speakers...the midrange can be too almost too transparent for some...meaning it's very sensitive to the recording....I would steer you towards the Song3, or Song3 BeAT $4k to $5k....you don't need it with your subs, but if you wanted more bass...the Song3 Encore...is a helluva speaker $6kish
I feel pretty strongly you would be impressed by Salks, but that said, I understand custom speakers are not for everyone.
I demoed a lot of OEM speakers in the $2 to $6k range prior to buying the Salks and to be honest I really didn't start feel like I was improving SQ on my 20+ yr old B&Ws until the speakers were $4-5k and up.
OEM speakers that I demoed and considered better than my B&Ws. Others I would recommend you hear.
Monitor Audio...
- Gold 300...$5-$7k...I've heard these at length...I played my entire demo playlist on these more than once..brighter without being bright if that makes sense...but generally more "open" sounding than the B&W....surprisingly the bass was only slightly better given the stated measurements...this speaker has been discontinued now, maybe some stray pairs out there. The next level Platinum PL300 which I have not heard personally but I've heard good things. is probably in the price range you mentioned.
Revel
- F208...$5k...playing the same material but totally different rooms so it wasn't really apples to apples, I liked this speaker a lot, it had the strongest low end performance. Now that I've learned how to integrate subs into my music playback...the bass alone wouldn't make me buy them but I would feel pretty good about owning a pair of these.
- F206...$3.5k this is a great speaker unless the room is really large and you're sitting more than 10' away. These imo would be an upgrade, but maybe not by leaps and bounds...iirc your room is fairly large, if so I would steer towards the F208.
- F228Be...$10k...never heard these, but based on the performance of the F208...it's one I would certainly would want to hear if I was in this price range.
Paradigm
- Persona 3f...$10k...I heard these after I bought the Salks...apparently I like ceramic drives...I like this speaker a lot, different class than the B&Ws...your space won't swallow these up...clean, powerful. Paired with your subs you have all the juice you need. I will say, paired with subs...my Salks don't give much away to these unless you are looking for max SPL, really nice speaker.
- 5F...$15-$17k...these were playing also when I was there, but I only ventured in there a few minutes as I would've had to take out a loan to buy these.
Legacy
- Signature SE...$7k
- Focus SE...$10k
I had serious interest in the Signature SE, but I never got to listen to the Legacy line...they have gotten strong reviews including one from this website. If there is a dealer nearby, I would give these some time.
Good luck with it!