Monitors that compete with quality floorstanders??

In general monitors give a more touchable and free image of instruments and voices.

But when you have brands which make exeptional good croosovers, even 3 way spakers can give the same level of a touchable and full free image of instruments and voices.

When the freq. response is bigger you hear more information and yess the overwhole sound is more fun.

I did a comparison with the Dynaudio C1 and the Monitor Audio Pl-100.

Monitor audio makes even better crossovers than Dynaudio makes. The stage is wider and deeper. But also the rinnontweeter of the Pl-100 gives a better touchable image than the Esoar tweeter does. There is also more authority over the high freq. There is even more decay. With live recordings you can easily hear the differences.

Thank to all who have responded so far.. All are interesting suggestions, especially the Sjorn speakers called "The Clue" The press and show reports rave about the performance of this smallish monitor. In particular, the bass is supposed to be amazing. At $999 a pair, it is steal, if they really sound as claimed. However, they are placement dependent, and set-up has to be by the book and accurate to bring the speaker to its full sound potential

The Reference 3A De Capo speakers have been around for at least 12 years have been upgraded several times, but they are somewhat overpriced whether new or used

You might be able to find a used pair of Wilson Benesch Arcs close to that price you are looking to spend.

That is a long list to regurgitate ,with many contenders that can even soundly smoke floor standers , starting with the various Harbeths and the ATC SM 11s new model.

The shorter answer to that question itself is directly dependent on what the rest of your system is, with particular reference to the front end and amp.

$999 is a far cry from $2700!