$1000 bookshelf speakers with "recessed", "laid back" or "flat" mid-range?

I suspect that you will be able to achieve your goal by simply changing the angle of rake that your speakers are currently at. All you have to do is raise the front of the speaker some and the sound will mellow out. Good luck

Thanks for the suggestion, but I rather have something with a different sound. I think what you propose will only work if I am sitting only at the sweet spot. The thing is, these are in my living room, so I listen to music in different situations, and I am not always sitting down at the sweet spot. Funny thing is, I can hear the forward sounding nature of the speaker in many different listening positions. I also experimented with speaker position, different gear, room treatment, etc. Nothing made a significant change to the forward presentation of the Elac UB5. I know I can hook up an equalizer and tame the midrange, but that's not the route I'd like to go.

I use older Sonus Faber Concerto that I bought used.  I see them often on Ebay in your price range.  They are very warm/laid back.  I have a sub, but don't use it always as their bass is adequate. 

@luciano33 You may want to look at the Q Acoustics line of speakers. They are known for their laid back character but yet very expressive and dynamic. My previous speakers were Klipsch RP600M and I had the same issues as you. For example, I couldn’t crank the volume up on Tool - Parabola on my favorite part because It was always a headache to listen on a loud level, although my room is medium to large (38square meters). I replaced the Klipsches for Q Acoustics 3050i and now I can listen to any song at any level of loudness. There are many reviews on the internet speaking of Q Acoustics 3000i series, but I’ll highlight you few things. They have a very good low extension, have very warm full-bodied midrange and very sweet silk dome tweeter. If you can stretch your budget for the concept series you’ll be even more pleased. They compete with a speakers 10 times more expensive. This is a quote from John Atkison from Stereophile about the Q Acoustics Concept 300 (3999$) .

https://www.stereophile.com/content/q-acoustics-concept-300-loudspeaker-page-2

This is not surprising, as these speakers stepped out of the way of the music in a manner I have only experienced from more expensive models, such as Wilson’s Alexia 2, Magico’s S5 Mk.II, and KEF’s Blade Two, to name three speakers that I have reviewed in the past few years

celestial__sound Thanks!! Tool is my favorite band of all time! I will definitely consider Q Acoustics! Cheers

My amp is a Yamaha A-S801. Do you think it would be a good match for the 3030i or 3050i?