???YOUR Personal Favorite???Why???

Focal Sopra No.1.  Better than B&W 805 D4, and to me even than Focal Utopia Diablo.  New Dali Epikore looks interesting.

I have not heard a 2-way stand mount under 15K US that I would recommend over a similarly priced 3-way or floor standing speaker. 

Joseph Audio pulsar 2 graphene are some of the most musical speakers I’ve ever heard and probably my favorite, but never owned them. Slightly higher than your budget of $15k would be the QLN signatures. I own the Prestige 5s and just love the tonal balance of QLN…never fatiguing, midrange reproduction of instrument and vocal timber is near perfect, excellent on all musical genres. They make a standmount 2-way called the Prestige1, but haven’t heard it.

JBL L19/4301

theyre really good

i like those minimus 7 too. always impressive how good they sound. 

I found the Dutch & Dutch 8c to be great-sounding speakers. Powered, so no worries about electronics.

They may not be ideal if you're exclusively into soft century chamber music and hushed female vocalists, but if your listening habits are like mine they're great.