"Best" mini-monitor?


I have a relatively small listening room (12x10) and have always owned mini-monitors.  Currently I have proac tablette anniversaries, but have had the original 15 ohm rogers ls3/5a, proac response 1, KEF, and reference 3a through out the years.  As you can see, these are all moderate priced speakers, having never spent more than 3k on any pair.  I am now in a position to spend a bit more money, certainly 5k, and maybe up to 10k.  So what out there should I be listening to?  I am in the Chicago area, so I would love something that I can listen to at a local (Midwest) dealer, but I do travel a lot and have auditioned/purchased things across the country from time to time.  New or used, does not matter to me.

as you can probably guess, I really don't care much about deep base, but live for soundstage and warm midrange, listening to a lot of female vocalists, acoustic rock/jazz/blues, and light (non full orchestra) classical.  

With my musical tastes, I have always loved el34 tube amps.  I currently have the prima Luna hp premium, which has 4 el34 per channel, giving me in the 70 wpc range, more than enough for a small room.  I am running naim digital source material (no bad remarks from the analog folks... I know I have have traded off).

so, what should I spend time auditioning?  I have used "best" in quotes because of the 10k price limit, but I suspect there are many more candidates below 10k than above it.

thanks.

Bill


meiatflask
Will second the recommendation of soix for the Joseph Audio Pulsar. I have a pair and they are outstanding, so I would not hesitate to recommend them. As far as I know Holm Audio is no longer a Joseph dealer. They do have a used pair of System Audio SA2K monitors that you might want to check out. They are a very "under the radar" speaker but are VERY good.

Other monitors I like are the Usher BE-718, Dynaudio C1 and Special 40, and Focal 1007BE. I have owned the Ushers and Focals but not the Dynaudios (I have heard them on quite a few occasions at dealers and AXPONA).
Listen to the Aerial 5T’s if possible and plan on spending at least an  hour to audition. 
I have a similarly small listening room (9 by 11) and tried a lot of speakers there before I felt like I got it right.  The best for me is the Trenner and Friedl Sun (little sibling of the Arts) with the Brinkmann integrated.  Heaven!

I would also take a look at the Watkins Stereo Generation 4 speaker just reviewed in Absolute Sound.  Sounds quite amazing.  

Depending on amplification, some prefer the Falcon Ls3/5a to the Harbeth P3esr.  I own the latter, though, and it is quite stunning especially on the kind of music you favor.

Margot