A list of efficient speakers at ~$5K a pair.

Talk to Tony at Tonian Labs to see if he has something to meet your needs.

I got the Volti Razz in its "Decorator Series" guise. That saves you $2000 off the list for a finished pair (so, $5500 vs $7500). I got then painted at a furniture refinishing place, and they did a great jo. You could do it yourself. It comes in plain Baltic Birch, and can be a blank slate for you.

I think they are 97 db, and my 8 wpc SET amp drives them with ease. 

Again, I very much appreciate the feedback I have been given. I am in process of researching the speakers suggested. I find myself thinking that I initiated this post somewhat in haste and maybe should has given it more thought. 

I Currently have 3 amplifiers in use in this system (have another system for the living room). They are: Pass XA25, Aric Audio Transcend PP tube; and a PS Audio S300.

The Pass and Aric amps are in use with the Fritz speakers. The Pass and the PS Audio are used with my Magnapan LRS+ speakers. The PS amp provides greater power with far less heat for summer months. 

I have been toying with the purchase of Aric's KT88 SET amp provides from 7 to ~ 20 wpc depending on tube and mode used. I have driven the Fritz with the Transcend PP rated at 16wpc using EL34 tubes in triode mode quite satisfactorily. I have been in contact with Aric regarding using this SET amp with the Fritz. I totally agree with @scotandholly that the Fritz. are hard to beat, even at 2X their price. 

My thinking is that there are not many speakers below 10K in price that would fit  my room, have the flat 8ohm impedance and modest swing in phase angle of the Fritz Carbon7, and better their true 89dB sensitivity by 3dB. 

Thanks again for your attention towards my quest. 

Mesch, received your note. Agon wont let me reply back without a CC which I wont do, as I don’t trust the security here after experiencing basic site errors I see periodically... Can’t complain for a no-cost site yet not sure I’ll keep my PII or CC info here, and I work in related industry fwiw.

SET / softer sound?

If you are looking for the softer sound by looking at SET amps, as you may know, you can also try speakers with different high / mid frequency drivers too fwiw.

For example, you can chat offline with member @hilde45, I heard his Ascend at his place, and he has the new V2s, 91db, 8ohm impedance. They are great with lower power 20-60w amps too, depending on room and listening distance. The freq response does not seem to drop below 5ohms, pretty flat, and for the $, I gotta say I cannot attempt to design, parts source, cabinets. and build a pair close to this for the $. I spoke to the owner of Ascend, I like how he thinks and makes incremental progress tweaks. Hilde’s also tested both pairs of Fritz with metal and soft domes too. Worth chatting with hilde oflfline, he’s been offline a while but still around.

You might also consider those new Ascend Sierras too at $3895/pair. For the $ I think they handily compete with some other speakers up to 2x the price. I recently went over to a friends house who bought my last pair of my custom speakers built for myself. They were designed to accomodate alloy or soft dome tweeters. He asked me to come over and swap from the aluminum back to the soft dome tweeters. We listened and compared and the tone and texture was nice with the soft domes. I modeled these after the older 2007 Proac Response 3s that were 8ohm with soft domes, lower 89db MTM configuration that I like most- and while efficiency is lower, still tube friendly like the Ascend Sierrra IIs are. I only bring this up because he’s played around quite bit with Fritz musical speakers too fwiw.

https://ascendacoustics.com/collections/sierra-series/products/sierra-tower-v2-pair?variant=40599146725430

Audio Note AN-K/lx should fit the bill and be around $5K.