Looking for speaker ideas.

"  Are you near any Vandersteen dealers? "

There is one, 3 hrs away.

That isn't too bad. Which one? If it is Audioconnection, then you are in great hands.

Audio Advisor in South Florida

if you’re looking for loud dynamism, whatever you end up with should be as far away from the walls as possible . Your room is treated as you said... But I’ve heard $550 floating vanatoos sound better than 60k vandersteens backed into corners.

@gdnrbob you’re on point with the Zu’s. They’re a joy to listen to though mine are finicky with placement. With the 9’ ceiling height, the Zu’s wideband driver is closer to the null of that mode than most designs, and well away from the floor... which helps give that authoratative and coherent clarity in the low end. My Druids (and most of their designs) roll off the lowest octave but I stopped caring and learned to love my flat midrange. They roll off their stuff after 40hz because they sell subwoofers too, which are supposed to be quite lovely.