Best speaker used under $1000 for piano rec.

I've seen several good speakers currently listed on Agon for under 1K that reproduce piano quite nicely. Snell as mentioned above, E III, or there was a pair of K.5's (large bookshelf). Also there is a pair of their QBX towers. Snells are hard to beat at any of their price points. There are several floor standing NHT's out their - the original Ken Kantor designs, outstanding for piano. Frieds are probably the best of the money for piano, but they're hard to find for sale, people buy em' and keep em'

You might want to check out Ohm Acoustics - www.ohmspeakers.com. You can by a new pair of MWTs right around your budget. These should suffice for a small room (cubic foot ranges for each model are posted on the web site). I am currently auditioning another model in the Walsh series. Although it is much too early to come to any conclusions, piano reproduction is a strong point. Another important point is that this model line is all designed to sound identical, from the least to most expensive. The size differences in the models is only for different sized rooms. They are sold factory-direct with a 120-day (!) home trial period. Nothing to loose but the round-trip shipping.

A used speaker in your price range that might work would be the Vandersteen 2Ce Signature (the current model, 2Ce Signature II might be hard to find for $1K). These do need to be placed away from the side and front walls, and they are physically fairly large, though.

It'd help if you can elaborate on which aspect of the piano do you enjoy the most. I am also a fellow piano music lover and different speakers produces certain aspect of the piano more than others. Transient attack, decay, different weighting of the strings sound vs the wood tone, macrodynamic or the complex timbre of the bass register.

Do you prefer the warmer sound of a Steinway and other brands?

For a well balanced sound, monitor and sub(s) would be a good way to go in a small room.

There is a pair of Reference 3a mm De Capos listed in the classifieds for $1050. Great sounding speaker, with or without the "i" upgrade. Piano sounds wonderful on them.

I would 2nd the DeCapo's, hard to get a better sounding speaker at that price. I am also a big fan of Totem Acoustics, I've been running a pair of Mani2's for the last 6 months and love 'em. Although they would be a little more $$$, there are plenty of Totems in your price range that would really shine.