modest towers with high WAF for living room?


Looking for opinions on this one. I've been running with Paradigm Studio-20s (V5) for over a year and want to upgrade. This is for our living room, 100% 2ch music. The Studios have been a nice intro into quality speakers. Now, I'm looking for something with a bit more bass presence plus, I want to get away from speaker stands.
My living room is large, 14X24', but we tend to listen at low-mid levels ... jazz, blues, classical, folk, some rock. I don't blast or need "wall thumpers".

I really want these to be nice, attractive, to get buy-in from the wife! ; )

Budget? Well < $2K preferrably, $2500 max.

My priorities: high WAF, sonic upgrade from the Studio20s, modest size ... don't want them to dominate the room.

Some candidate
albireo13
A used pair of Merlin VSMs - beautiful in piano black and bass performance (with the BAM) that belies is small footprint.
Do you know what you wife likes or dislikes about the way speakers look? It might surprise you. My wife hates the "V" look on my Focal's, but it's fairly hidden in black which is a big part of why she chose that finish.
She doesn't like the techno look ... weird shapes, etc. I think she'd divorce me if I brought home some Gallos! : )

Speakers with attractive veneerwork, that blend into the living room. Thus, a modest size that doesn't dominate the room in appearance.

The Salks come to mind, as do the Totems. I'll have to come up with a handful (5-10) of candidate pictures to show her and have her give me feedback.

I'll post my results. : )

The Fritz Carbon 7s ... I didn't know they were available as towers! I'll check on that.
Albireo, had you tried draping a nice doiley over each one? Otherwise, perhaps Mapman has not yet sold out his "festive colorful speaker ornaments with the cascading plumes". See his thread titled "this is no joke".
Now you know how to divorce her if you want it at some point. She should like the look and sound of Vienna; why do you think they sell so many speakers?