What is the 'Chales Shaw' of loudspeakers?

Usblues offers the best advise. With that said, if you have the room, I'll second Krisjan's suggestion of the Vandersteen 2's.

Since when is $2200 for a pair of speakers cheap?

I don't know much and am pretty much a newbie but I'll second the Large Advent vote.
Have a pair, love 'em.
Then got another, stacked 'em.
Then a customer gave me a pair of KLF 30s (Klipsch! Already had Heresys in the back on B...)
Now using the KLFs...gulp!
Oh and he also gave me a pair of...drumroll please...AR9s!
(Need all 4 woofs refoamed though.)
Man, some people!
Heh heh heh...
Life IS good!

This is Audiogon, good condition used examples of $2200 new speakers can be had for considerably less. BTW, in the big scheme of things, many here might find $2200 for new speakers cheap.

The OP here. I appreciate and have enjoyed most of the posts. However, a few kind posters have misunderstood the nature of my question, so I would like to clarify it. I am not seeking a speaker for myself here. The post was inspired by a NY Times article I read about Charles Shaw wines. The point was, at $2-$3 these wines are truly inexpensive, yet they have beaten $50-$80 wines in blind tastes. This is different from merely "good value" which many $15-$20 wines might be said to represent.

As the analogy should make clear, the question was: Which truly inexpensive loudspeaker today would beat much, much more expensive ones in blind listening tests, when brand loyalty, snob appeal, and other psychological issues are not in the play?

(I am a great fan of the speaker that Advent was, but would like to focus on models that are currently in production, just like Charles Shaw wines are!)