Picking Speakers 20k-30k

@brewerslaw If you are still pondering the idea of DIY. Troels Graveson will be a very good place to see where options for a build can be assessed.

Troels Website has plenty of projects and quite accurate description of the sonic being created.

 I have listened to a Troels Design and class it as the Best Cabinet Design Speaker I have heard in a system used in a home environment. As a ESL user and having heard ESL's as other models as well, the Cabinet Speaker produced to Troels Design was invisible and perceived as being as Transparent as an ESL. 

There is a general consensus about Troels Gravesen Designs, that strongly suggests, a built model for approx' $7-10K will be a Speaker to hold its own in comparisons to Commercial Models using similar drivers, with a Purchase value of $30K and rising, as a five fold outlay is regular seen as the outlay required to surpass a Troels Designed Speaker.  

PMC MB2SE, if you can get a listen you won’t search further.

Buy higher sensitivity speakers so you can use larger tube amplifiers that will not heat the room up.

It sucks buying lower sensitive speakers which then require massive tube Power to optimize performance.

Spend more money if you can

YG Acoustics Summit in their peaks series is the best speaker in the world in the price range you want full stop!

You don't write which type of music you listen to or what type of sound you prefer.

Some brands that have impressed me at shows or dealers and have offerings in the given price range:

Boenicke

Focal

Marten

Devore

Fyne 

Borresen