best bookshelf speakers for < $2000?

I'll add to the confusion.

I own Sierra-1s and love them.  They're now in the bedroom system.  Long ago a bass-playing friend listened to them, and preferred them without my subwoofer.

I owned Vandersteen 2cs, and should have never let them get away.  I loved them.

I now own Spatial M2 Turbos.  They're the last speakers I'll ever buy.

Update:
  I replaced my amp with a Nuprime IDA8 integrated amp.  It sounds great and I love the internal DAC.  Much more compact system now.
They only go to 100W/8ohms.  I am now looking towards efficient speakers to replace my Studio-20s.

Funny story on Sierra's.  I knew someone at a local shop.  I had sent a lot of buyers their way and I dealt with the owner since I was a kid.  We were talking about me getting a cheap pair of bookshelf speakers for my bedroom system that would be using a cheap Marantz AVR in direct mode two channel.  I decided to just get a pair of their Paradigm Atoms and they sold me a 10" cube sub for cost as they wanted to get rid of it. I didn't love the speakers, but it was a bedroom system that wasn't going to be set up properly anyways.  The sales guy I knew kept telling me to get the Sierra bookshelf speakers as they were much much better.  It's what he personally owned.  I laughed and said that we all tell people to buy what we own. Heck, I do all the time.  Take it with a grain of salt and go listen.  Nothing more nothing less.  I checked out their site and eventually I did hear them.  For the price I felt they were solid.  Very nice sounding speakers overall.  It's a difficult price range to make a speaker in.  I put them up against other speakers in their range and felt they more than held their own. Like any speaker, they wouldn't be for everyone, but they would be killer for many.  All speakers have come a long way over the last many years since I heard them so I don't know how they stack up against Vandersteen or some of the other speakers in that range (used or new).  I know that right now Vandersteen 1's and 2's are my favorite in that competitive range.  I personally am not a fan of some of the big name speakers in this price range.  I know many do a great marketing job and get great reviews, but I don't get them.  I won't get into the brands, but I wonder how many of these small speaker companies that are border line hobby businesses can and will be able to do top R&D on such limited budgets. I've seen so many companies make great products for the cost and never be able to get better other than using better capacitors to filter or a bit better driver here and there when they come out.  Meadowlark is one of those that come to mind.  So many others.  I do wish them all well as it pushed the boundaries for companies like Vandersteen and others.  

Its tough.   There are so many speaker companies out there that it makes me dizzy.  I bout my Studio20s after listening them at a shop.  It was the first hogh quality store I had visited and they sounded the best in my budget.  
So really, I dont know if I am missing something compared to other speakers.  

I have a pair of Paradigms down in the basement.  They can be decent with some NAD gear, but to me the Vandersteens up and down the line are special.  It's the first order crossover and they are phase correct (the 1's are a bit different, but still awesome).  I hope you have a chance to get to hear them set up properly.  Again, there are others too obviously.  Get out and listen and don't just buy right away.  Where do you live?