Best speakers for max. $3000?

@russbutton, thanks for the info on the LX521. Much appreciated.

No it’s not the best looking loudspeaker in the world but some finishes are more palatable than others. If one turns up in cherry (or any other light finish) here in the UK I’m definitely interested. 

Siegfried Linkwitz was nothing if not methodical and relentless in his efforts to continually perfect his designs with admirable attention to detail. 

We sell new and used equipment and we always suggest to our customers if they can find a used piece of equipment they like, to buy it instead of buying new. With used equipment you get much more for your money than buying new. Several people have suggested buying Vandersteen 2Ce Sig's and it is a good suggestion but for the same amount of money you could buy a used pair of 3A sig's. You can get much more for the same amount of money. These days with so few audio stores around more and more people find it impossible to find an audio dealer within a reasonable distance from them, many times good used equipment can found close by and at a reasonable price.
Planers are normally on our list of suggested speakers but since you found the Thiel's  harsh in your room we suggest you may want to avoid planers and horns for the same reasons you did not like the Thiel's.
Here is a list of used speaker that are our best sellers. Your budget will tell you what models you can afford.
Vandersteen, Focal, Martin logan, Gallo 3.5 ( try it without the sub amp first) PSB, Sonas Faber, Legacy, and  B&W.
If you are patient and are not in a hurry you can find some really good deals on used speakers. We just sold a pair of B&W 802N's in perfect condition for almost the same price as what your budget is because we did not have the original boxes and it would have not been worth the time or money to build crates and ship them so we opted to sell them locally cheap. When it comes to speakers and turntables (for us anyway) it is better to sell it locally at a lower price than to build shipping crates and boxes, pay the extra price for shipping, incur losses from shipping damage, to only come out a few percentage points ahead. If you are have cash at had and are fast making a dicision you can take advantage of these situations.                   

I'm no expert and so I'll confine my suggestions to what I own and know. The new Magnepan LRS are only $650 + $70 shipping (a fixed fee). I have a pair and I think they're an extremely nice speaker, especially for the price. I also have a pair of original Vandersteen 2c speakers. I like them too (and used pairs are pretty cheap). I prefer the imaging of the LRS vs. the 2c but the Vandersteens (not surprisingly) have much better bass extension. A problem with the LRS and other such is space for correct speaker placement. From what the OP wrote, I guess the listening room likely won't suffer from that constraint. In any event, good luck and have fun!
Keith

So I had another audition with Magnepans recently, this time the MG.7s (aka .7s). Steve Guttenberg’s comments in his YouTube vid for this particular model, and how he even prefers them to the 3.7s, piqued my interest.

This audition was a in a different room, with different gear from my own, so not apples-to-apples, so take it FWIW. However, the partnering gear was of a similar class to my own. For whatever reason, the .7s sounded far better than what I remember of the 1.7s I owned, maybe with the exception of bass extension. I can only guess this might be due to the .7s being 2-ways while the 1.7s are 3-ways. I often find myself disappointed in the sound of 3-way speakers, and it’s my suspicion that the additional crossover found in these designs is sucking out some low-level information. The proponents of single-driver speakers often claim that’s the design’s ace-card, the omission of a crossover. I’m beginning to think that’s a valid argument.

Anyhow, the following is how I’d rank speakers I’ve either auditioned recently, or own, that can be had for $3K, from best overall performance to least (assuming compatible room and gear). Keep in mind that these models, at a minimum, have slight differences in strengths and weaknesses. The ranking is only for how likely I’d be able to live with them long-term, with "mid-fi" ancillaries. Also, I omitted models that are difficult to find or rarely come up on the used market.

Spatial M4 Triode Masters
Magnepan .7s.
Rega RX-5 (these surprised me)
Spatial M4 Turbo S
New Large Advents *with refreshed parts (no, not kidding, when was the last time you heard a pair with modern gear?)
Tannoy XT6F, or Vandersteen 1Ci
Heresy III or Vandersteen 2CE Signature2


There are many others but I haven’t auditioned or owned them in a long-time.

Focal Aria 936 has been mentioned here a few times and I agree - it is a solid option, particularly at its sale price of $2799 new. 

However, I enjoyed the Ascend Acoustics Sierra Towers with RAAL tweeters more. Also under $3K. David is also a super nice guy and helped me out whenever I had any questions.