Horn Speaker Recommendations

You should buy speakers first , then tell contractor to build a room around the speakers

Actually, My spouse loves the look of the Avantgarde speakers and hORNS Universum.  I am lucky.

This is about form over function , center/conversation piece , it appears

Precisely. WAF over sound quality

It's not that simple 

I strive for top quality sound but I don't want my sitting room to look like an audio lab. It's not just the wife who cares but me, too.  Everything has compromises somewhere.