I would definitely recommend the KEF speakers for your listening.

Check KEF Direct for best pricing.

Depends on your power amp and preference for sound profile. On that list I would look at the Kef's and Elacs though I am not sure I agree with the list.

IMO a better choice would be the Monitor Audio Silver 6s as they have been discontinued and replaced by a Silver 200. GREAT deals are available right now on them. They were a strong value at list price of $1600, on clearance they are sitting at Crutchfield for $1278 and are better than the above IMO. Dead neutral with lots of detail. Unless you have a very bright or very warm amp, these offer pretty uncolored sound.

The other speaker I really like is at $1300 exactly which is the PSN Imagine X2T. Not on deal at the moment but a very natural, smooth sounding speaker.

I find the Elacs to be a bit forgiving which is good if you have mediocre sources or mediocre amplification. I personally don't like the Kef Q line much but lots of people do.

Recently went through a similar search for new speakers, ended up with Monitor Audio Silver 8s and am very pleased. Some advice I got that really helped me was to consider 3-way speakers. The thinking is that a good speaker designer can put a lot of value in a great mid-range driver and cross-over. Then extend with dedicated tweeters and woofers to get a great speaker that is affordable. At higher price points, this thinking goes away as designers can use more expensive cabinet designs, driver materials, etc. to do some amazing things.

As mentioned above, the prior model closeouts currently on Monitor Audio are really good deals. Silver 8s are $1200 and 10s are $1500 at the moment. My listening is jazz, acoustic with some rock. I would definitely listen to the Monitor Audio before buying, your music interests may not be to their strengths. Klipsch jumped out to me for you, they rock and the heritage models are beautifully built. For my music interests, they were too bright and harsh.

Thank you for the comments above. Though I started a different thread that also involves a receiver, the talk about speakers helps me as well!

If you're open to considering vintage speakers, you can pick up a pair of Infinity Renaissance 90's around that price now. They have good bass with their 10" Watkins dual vc woofers & 6.5" mid-bass couplers, and mids and highs are fast, natural sounding & have excellent dispersion and off-axis performance. Sound staging is also excellent.

The Rens were sold between 1990-1995. There are a few things to be aware of if you hunt down a pair, but if you do your homework the Rens still offer amazing VFM. Firstly, the Watkins woofers are power hungry. You'd need a minimum 200 watt ss amp stable down to 2 ohms.

And unfortunately there is an Industry which has sprung up stripping good examples to part them out, which is resulting in 'Frankin' speakers showing on the used market which have been frigged with. Hence i'd only buy a preferably one, or two-owner example in good shape where I could confirm providence via the s/n's and original ROS.

Obviously to get the very best out of a 25 year old set of speakers, you would need to consider a refurb at some stage incl: fresh internal wire, re-capping the x-overs, getting the bass drivers checked & vc's re-aligned by Watkins Stereo & replace the foam insulation for the Emims with acoustic foam. But even without a refurb, imho no other speakers under $3k new or used would touch them.