Speakers - Your "Safest" Choice

Focal all the way

Hi, $20 k is in the perfect range of the OMA ´s Fleetwood Deville SQ. They are beautiful, not to big , floor stand speakers that sound very musical with the tiniest details and amazing voices.I truly suggest giving them a listening demo before making up your mind, I love them and could listen for hours as the speakers disappear and the musical magic is all around you.

@OP - The suggestions for B&W, Sonus Faber, Wilson and Focal and Magico are all on the money.

A pair of Wilson Sabrina Xs is in your budget range. Some people are put off by their diminutive size, but they sound bigger than they look.

My personal preference would be between Wilson and Sonus Faber but you should really try to hear comparably priced models from all of those firms.

First of all, you do not necessarily need to audition speakers if you know exactly what it is you are looking for. I bought $45,000 speakers on design and reputation alone and could not be happier. 

For $20k there is only one speaker that will blow most people away if they have not heard them before and that is the Magneplanar 20.7. 125 watts will do OK but they do best with something like the JC 1+. They are very easy to deal with. Because they are line source dipoles there is far less room interaction. They will sound excellent even in the worst of rooms. Their ribbon tweeter is arguably the best tweeter ever made. They are also very imposing and will impress the hell out of your friends. They produce a much more lifelike image than any point source speaker and dialed in they will disappear almost as well as a line source ESL. I also think they are handsome in Walnut and Black. If I had no room for subwoofers these are the speakers I would buy in a heartbeat.