Recommendations for small desktop speakers under $1500

Putting speakers on a desk goes against everything known about positioning speakers properly in a room. You only have a couple feet of positioning options to play with instead of the whole room. Plus you are putting them on a surface inherently susceptible to vibration and reflections. It’s like buying a Ferrari for using on gravel roads.  Is the listening room so small that you can't position the speakers on good stands in front of the desk and move the desk back and forth until things sounds good?

Audio Engine. I think it's the (2) something.

Lol 8 was going to suggest  a pair of totem mites but see I am a secondary voter for that speaker. Very nice you can buy new or used to stay with in your budget. I bought a pair a week ago that were like brand new for 150 Canadian  dollars

Some of the active speakers have DSP for desktop placement. The isoaccustic stands really help on a desk for passive speaker. Likely active speakers with DSP too would be helped.

IsoAcoustics ISO-200Sub Isolation Stand; ISO-200 Sub - The Music Room (tmraudio.com)

After some experimentation with the following speakers on my desk,

KEF LS50

KEF LSX

Audience 1+1

AudioEngineUSA 2

I realized that the best way to have speakers in an office with a desk is to have the speaker BEHIND me. I have 6 monitors hooked up to a silent PC and the KEF LS50 META speakers behind me. It is a great sounding room. I have OLD photos on my Virtual System.

The little Ushers are phenomenal.