Speaker recomendation

There are a ton of speakers out there that charge a whole bunch of money for a box of nothin.... or very little. 

Legacy Signature, Focus or Aeris are all 3 excellent and would take care of that area quite well. 
Peter chimed in from PBN... I have studied Peter's designs and can tell you that he is beyond a competent designer,  his speakers are well thought out,  crossover slopes, phasing, time alignment, parts quality etc.  I have zero reservation in recommending PBN.   In fact, the 2 model below the model that Peter posted would also do a good job.  PBN is certainly worth a phone call as well as Legacy. 

Igoler,

I would also suggest Tannoy Prestige speakers as already suggested here, but i dont think it fits your budget. You may otherwise want to consider the new Legacy series with the Arden, bearing a full range DC driver of 15" that will produce ample and dynamic sound. In your budget, the best recommendation from my experience that I can make and often make in such forums is the XTZ Divine Alpha. It has power, smoothness, totally full range, balanced, very fine details, high end rivers, incredibly robust and beautiful construction, flexibility of tuning and also going active... it is a marvelous speaker in many ways but not well known in the US where such stuff is often not even looked at for reasons escaping my understanding (I am not from the US). Maybe the representation is not good. Anyway, I own high end and very high end gear, and can tell you this one is sadly missed by many audiophiles that dont even know their existence. As for amps, it is maybe a less personal equipment, so many could do fine, but going XTZ way requires some power. I would go for well preserved second hand amps to have better quality for your budget and still many years of enjoyment. Bryston 7B3 is a dream on them, or some Pass as well, or Benchmark AHB2, or Magtech... they are not fussy of amp nature, but just need some juice when you want to push! 
All the best

@hddg thank you!  I will look into the XTZ as I've not heard of them before.  I'm leaning towards the Avantgarde XD Zero right now as they seem to do a lot right for my space but haven't had the chance to listen to them yet.  

After reading a review of the current Dynaudio FocusXD and XEO line and that they offer, I feel I would be crazy not to consider actives for use in my home. Does anyone have an opinion based on their own listening experience about Dynaudio’s active line or other similarly priced speakers that are active?

In this case, active ATC should be on your auditioning list. In active speakers it really doesn’t get any better than ATC. And the technical advantages to eliminating a passive crossover are significant. However, an active design is not as flexible (no choice of power amp) - so it is critical that the design is done right. ATC have been doing this for more than 30 years (time tested) and used by professionals globally as a reference (highly respected). These aren’t warm sounding (very neutral or clinical) but the mid range is captivating for vocals and everything else - regarded as an industry reference. You can sweeten the sound to your tastes with a tube preamp and choice of DAC - so you still have some flexibility. 

http://atcloudspeakers.co.uk/client-list/

 shadorn@ i dont see you can sweeten anything,    Bacheaudio
made  compromise , Semi Active  Loudspeakers . Low bass 10 : and midbass *8" driver is both active , controlled by 2 separate class D
Bash 300 and class AB with 4 orders  Linkwitz-Riley electronic crossovers.
But midds and highs from 700hz and up you can control by any
external amps. Any SAT is good from 10Watts 
http://bacheaudio.com/bache-audio-002ab-loudspeakers-v2-stereotimes-com