Definitely take your time. Speakers in the range you are looking at are really good and very different. You want to hear them… holding off until a speaker connects with you. @grislybutter had a pretty good list of must hear. You also need to take into account what equipment the folks demonstrating the speakers are using. I would take your time, make it a fun exploration.
Do all this before upgrading any of your electronics. If you want the very best sounding system it is best to choose your speakers… the component that will most influence the sound and then buy the electronics to best support the speakers and the sound quality you want.
just going through this process is likely to change the direction of your search. This is why auditioning (then reading professional reviews), can slowly lead you to a great synergistic system. Unless each purchase is carefully chosen with the whole system in mind you can end up with a very expensive and unsatisfyingly sounding system.