Lots of detail, great imaging, not much bass?

Now you are in Green Moutain Europa territory...good place to be

At the Newport Audio show the Silverline Minuets were displayed right next to the Prelude Plus models and though I only heard the Preludes, if the MInuets can play anything like their bigger brother, then your search has narrowed down quite a bit.

All of the Totems I heard at the show did nothing for me, but most rooms didn't sound that good, save for a few. In fact, stuff that I know sounded good last year didn't hold up that well this time.

The one room that completely floored me was the Pioneer room. Yes, the Pioneer room. This small floorstander was designed by Andrew Jones (think TAD)
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/Speakers/Home+Theater+Speakers/SP-FS52
and had no right to sound as good as it did. Sure, it didn't do everything but they were musically satisfying and made me wish they were around when I first started this hobby.

All the best,
Nonoise

Now that you've upped your budget I think a used pair of Joseph Audio RM7XLs would be very worth consideration given what you're looking for.

Also, I don't think tripling the wall thickness will do much for your bass problem although it may help a bit with the mids and highs (especially if you use something like green glue between the layers). The walls will still be attached to the studs, which will still vibrate with the bass and transmit to the wall on the other side. Plus, depending on construction the beams in the floors and ceilings will also continue to transmit bass to the other room. Unless you're willing/able to install something like resilient channels in your walls and, significantly more difficult, also isolate the floor and ceiling I don't think you'll be able to attenuate the bass transmission enough to allow you to crank the music very loud if it contains significant bass. Sorry to be a bummer but that's my understanding of it and don't want to see you waste $$$ on something that won't work, but maybe others have suggestions.

B-limo,
Just wondering, why not simplify system since moving into smaller quarter?

Get an excellent quality integrated amp with tone controls ~ (adjust bass as you wish) +
loudness boost (for late night/low level listening) + built-in headphone amp (ready when
adding one). This, I believe will suit your purpose better, whilst giving more flexibility and
less clutter too (happy fiancé). Only then on to speakers later ~ when/if still needed.

Something like a Luxman / Accuphase / Mc Intosh unit would be nice. Just saying..

*Btw. House music with little bass is like living with no soul. So you still do need that bass
reserves for when no one's looking! ;)

Soix, thanks for the input regarding bass transmission, as I was thinking that the triple layer, green glue would help with bass. I think really what I need to do is just wait until I move in and then do some sound tests with my music playing and then go down in there bedroom to see how bad the situation is going to be.

I really don't get why home builders (especially custom home builders at the price point that this home is; $800-$1m?) don't spray insulation in the floor joists in an attempt to help withnoise transmission through walls, floors and ceilings. It sure would help homeowners enjoy thier homes more if thier teenagers pounding techno music (or in this case, my pounding techno music) throughout the whole house. I love techno / house music but I can totally understand how utterly annoying it is when all you can hear is "boom boom boom boom boom".