great little speakers

Harbeth P3 (which is basically an LS 3/5A design, only better.). Hard to beat, esp. for the price. Definitely better than Spendor.

-Ed

Ensemble Animata

I think that Reference 3A has another small monitor beside the DeCapo that was shown recently at CES.

My favorite small speaker for many years has been the Pyramid MET-7, designed and made by Richard Sequerra, one of the audio "greats". I took them with me when I was teaching in the Far East, and really enjoyed their excellent performance in smaller rooms.

The MET-7's are extremely coherent, with a warm musical sound, and excellent imaging. Sometimes the MET-7's can be purchased used here on Audiogon, but they can be purchased new for $1200 directly from Sequerra. Here is the link to Sequerra's web site, where you can get more info about the Pyramid MET-7:
http://www.sequerra.com/electronics/data/index.html

In addition to the Sequerra MET-7, I also strongly recommend the speakers from PSB and Paradigm that are in your price range. These two Canadian manufacturers make some of the best value speakers (price-to-performance ratio) on the market.

The Penaudio Rebel 2 and Charisma fall into this category. They are based in Finland with distribution in the Netherlands and UK, as well as the Nordics. www.penaudio.fi