Real world Loudspeakers what does very good cost ?

Speaker "sound" is so dependent on the room,  the source,  the amplification and the positioning.  Matching all those components working together to provide the endpoint the proper load and power is critical to getting the desired result. 

There are so many posts here about matching components that  focusing on just  speakers without  considering all the other pieces would make it near impossible to extract value from your decision.  

Music type, volume level, size constraints are more important than the brand of speaker I think.  I haven't heard them all but would guess that any 20K speaker under optimum conditions for that speaker would sound terrific but that same speaker under non optimal conditions would have deficiencies that would make it not  completive with a better matched lower cost unit.  

Why are Vandersteens so infrequently mentioned anymore? I would much rather pay for and live with one of them than any of the Wilsons.

Auditioned tons of speakers. 
 

settled on a 3K pair, which sound the best to me.

most are too bright for my ears

price is subjective 

Ears , rooms, deflection, music style, all different. 
 

Please do offer your Loudspeaker options and how much more is truly needed to get a truly resolving speaker without taking out a mortgage.

The trouble is that the loudspeaker needs to be married to the proper chain to deliver as intended=source>cable>preamp>amp>speaker wire>speaker> ROOM acoustics

Any misstep along the way and dollars get wasted.

I would recommend an active "system" like the Kef LS 60, the Dynaudio Focus 50, Klipsch The Nines, etc.

In my experience you would need to spend $$$$ more money to get better SQ with separates and might still miss.

The Sevens by Klipsch are active speakers and cost $1299 so I would say that is likely the entry point for a truly resolving SYSTEM.

The Sevens Review:

https://youtu.be/MiN0W4yXbPY

Legacy Audio makes the Focus SE and Focus XD, depending on your amplifier they are well regarded. The XD has an internal amp so mates well with tubes, if you have a bigger SS amp then the Focus SE’s will work well. $11,900 for SE and $14,172 for XD.