With stands is there any reason you aren't looking at floor standers? that would open up some purchase options.
Slim towers would also be OK. I did take a look at the B&W CM8s for example. I guess I'm not looking for high SPLs, but rather better sound quality. It seems that for the same price, one can almost always get a bookshelf speaker from one line up, comparing to a floorstander.
I see a lot of people are recommending ID companies. I did choose to go ID for a subwoofer, because it's just simply the best deal to performance ratio. But I'm not so sure when it comes to loudspeakers.
A lot of the new releases from major manufacturers now feature curved cabinets, waveguides, etc. in their designs. Something that is still not readily available from similarly priced ID speakers.
I had the pleasure to listen to the new Sonus Faber Venere 1.5 speakers and they sounded fabulous. They had intricate curved and slanted cabinets to eliminate standing waves, premium gloss finish, glass tops, dual binding posts, magnetic grills, waveguides (even though they're only good to about 6kHz), pretty sophisticated crossovers with Bennic grade parts, in-house made drivers using DMK and Curv diaphragms (similar to Seas), 5 year warranty, etc. And all for $1200 retail at Magnolia, who are willing to sell at an additional 10-15% off. That is just an insane deal. Same thing could be said for the new Performa3 line from Revel and their M105 bookshelfs.
The B&W CM line of speakers use Mundorf capacitors in their crossovers! And feature drivers with very complex motors/chambers/vents and extremely well braced cabinets.
Sound is always the most important part, but at this price, engineering, style, and quality of parts is also very important to me.
