$1000 bookshelf speakers with "recessed", "laid back" or "flat" mid-range?

Too bad you don't have an extra $1500 or so to spend.  Harbeth makes a line of speakers that are quite easy to live with.

Goldenear Aon 3. 

I love my Wharfedale 225. I can listen for hours with no fatigue.  I'm buying a second set...... Everything else gives me a headache. 

Quad S2.  Smooth natural sound and no harshness with the ribbon tweeter.

I found that a lot of comments here give wrong impression how a speakers sound, no you don't recommend the speakers because you know how it sound directly, rather you know it sound like that because you have your own matching, yes generally a speakers brand sounding tend to bright/neutral/warm side, but we do not take that for granted. With my current setup audio chain Fostex HP-A3 DAC/preamp > Class D Audio SDS-470C power amp, over the years I've concluded an excellent tonal balance can be achieved through the speakers Wharfedale Denton 80th, not the 85th take note, and I don't judge whether it sound neutral/bright/warm on the speakers model alone, I can only tell from my current setup, it's very engaging and powerful sound, neutral or warm seem not the right word to describe the sound, I can feel the atomic sound particle that melt my heart when listening to the Denton, yet the sound is also very resolving when come to details, yet the sound can rocking good in terms of bass presentation. Other gears I've experienced include NAD M22 v2, Elac Debut B6, Klipsch RP-600M, Wharfedale Diamond 220, Wharfedale Evo 4.2, Yamaha A-S801, NAD 3020i, Monitor Audio Bronze 2, Marantz PM6005, Kanto YU6, Audinst HUD-MX1, JDS Labs ODAC, JDS Labs Objective2, JDS Element, Sonus Faber Sonetto I, Q Acoustics 3050i, Wharfedale Diamond 9.1, PSB Alpha B1.