Looking for "realistic" speakers

With a $5K budget, you have so many great options, and you're going to read lots of great names from the good people here on the forum. Unfortunately, nobody here can help you. I've learned this myself, from experience.

What sounds good in my room, with my furnishings and layout, and my music, to my ears, may or may not sound pleasant to your own ears. Your only move is to not only listen to as many speakers as you can in your area, but try to find a dealer who will let you bring some home and try in your own space. Speakers, more than any other component (in my opinion), come down to personal preference and how your own ears perceive and enjoy the way they are voiced, and the way the frequencies are represented.

Right now in my office I have a pair of Proac D2 sitting next to a pair of B&W PM1. Both fantastic speakers, but you should hear how different they sound. They're vanilla and chocolate, but I never would have anticipated that, I had to hear them side by side for myself. Point being, I genuinely believe that speakers are the one component nobody else can help you with. Again, all just my humble "non-audiophile" opinion.

Suggest you look at the new Bud Fried Towers. A BIT more than you requested, but VERY similar to the Cary speakers you lost.

http://www.friedproducts.com

"The Bud Fried Tower not only earns a no-brainer thumbs-up recommendation at its price point, but I find it to be competitive with any box speaker I’ve evaluated under $6k." ...Dick Olsher, 11/11/13, The Absolute Sound

^^^ ... well, true enough, but the Cremona M is a $10K speaker now available on the lightly used market for $6K. Reviews can't capture how the Cremona Ms put a smile on your face, even when driven by the right $1K integrated amp. It is one fast and resonance-free box speaker.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Problem is there's a limited selection of speakers to listen to locally. I DID hear the B&W PM1's. They're nice sounding but a bit forward (at least in their setup).

Also listened to the Sonus Faber floor standers ($9K) and bookshelf ($7K) and the were good but didn't light my fire. The less expensive $3.5 floorstanders were a major step down as I expected.

I finally heard Dynaudio Confidence bookshelves ($7.5K) - These were my favorites so far. They were also a bit forward sounding on the Ayre integrated they were playing on but that could be fixed with higher end electronics. Plus the guy set them up so i had to be literally 4 feet in front of them.

They played the same CD on the Contours and it honestly sounded like completely different music - and even so they sounded good for a speaker half the price. In fact in the $3.5K range the contours were by far the best I've heard so far.

Went to another store and listened again to regular Totem Forests (not signatures) on not so great electronics and they sounded not so great.

I wish I could hear Proac, Legacy, Tetras, even KEF LS50's locally but no dice.

Where does that leave me? I might have to start auditioning speakers in home from companies that sell direct and offer that. I'm thinking of Salk Song and others. Anyone have recommendations for speaker companies that sell direct? I may start a new thread about that..

Larry, the Legacy, Deadalus(30 day no-risk audition period on all non-showroom direct sales), and Selah(45-day money-back guarantee) brands I mentioned above are sold direct.