Speaker recommendations 10 to 30k and no beryllium

smod! There is no dynamic loudspeaker as tough and durable as the Sound Labs. Literally you can not blow them up and they can go VERY loud. They are also harder to hurt physically than dynamics. Your 3 year old can kick them all he wants. He'll break his foot before he hurts the speaker. Quads were very fragile and gave ESLs a bad rep. There is no and I mean no dynamic loudspeaker that can come close to matching the Sound Labs for shear accuracy. Distortion is an order of magnitude lower and there is no cross over to screw up phase relationships. Room acoustics are much less of a problem because Sound Labs are dipoles so they do not radiate sound to the sides, up or down. There are much fewer loud early reflections. Don't believe me. Read the reviews. Ask Atmasphere and Audiokinesis. If you add subwoofers down the line you will easily hit 110 dB. They are right in your price range. Once you hear them you will never look back. You will die laughing at people who spend $250 K on Wilson's.  

It would be good to know what you like to listen to. My room is close in size to yours and my Peak Consult Princess Signatures running off a Line Magnetic 508ia are spectacular for the jazz and chamber music I prefer. Blew the Joseph Audio away. But for symphonic and real rock, the system weakens. 

I would recommend Soundlab speakers

Most 30K speakers are huge by comparison (think room dividers) and are very heavy. Shipping costs are many hundreds of dollars, and likely will require help to unbox and set them up


Also it sounds like this is a shared room. Many uber high end speakers need to be well out from the front wall (~ 6ft+), so just keep those things in mind when deciding what to buy

hth

It is not clear whether you are doing a wide-ranging search from scratch, or whether you have narrowed your interest to a certain type of speaker or type of sound.  Are there other none sonic requirements, such as those dictated by limited options on placement of the speaker, no top heavy models that might be a danger to children, size of speaker, etc.  Also, success with certain speakers require particular types of amplifiers, so it would help to know what you have and whether or not changing amps is a possibility.

The following list offers a wide array of speaker types and sound, but, I like them even though few of them actually fit my ideal:

Panel speakers:

Magneplanars--any model in your price range and tolerance for size will deliver room-filling, realistically scaled soundscape.

Sanders Sound (electrostatic/dynamic hybrids that deliver a lot of dynamic punch.

Soundlab-great electrostatic speakers, but they are huge in size.


Conventional Dynamic speakers

Any Audio Note model in your price range.  If it is desirable to have the speakers in the corners, Audio Note speakers are designed for that placement.  They are in the very warm and musical sounding camp, not the lean and "detailed" sounding camp, but, unlike some other warm speakers, they don't sound sluggish.  

DeVore Orangutans -- in the warm and mellow camp.

YG Acoustic Carmel-- very much NOT in the warm and mellow camp, but, with the right electronics, they deliver the goods--very good with instrumental timbre.

Vandersteen Quattro -- kind of a Goldilocks speaker -- not too lean and analytical, not too warm.

SoundKaos 42 -- a two-way speaker that utilizes a full/extended range driver with a ribbon tweeter on top. A very musical sounding system.


Unconventional Speakers:

Charney Audio -- Shockingly good for the money single driver speakers.  This is the only implementation of a single driver that I thought did not have problem areas that made them ultimately unacceptable even though the dynamics and liveliness of this type of speaker is incredibly appealing.  They don't deliver really deep bass, but, everything else is done quite well.  The sound depends on the choice of driver--I personally like the AER driver.

Custom Design:

Deja Vu Audio -- Deja Vu Audio is a Washington DC area audio dealer that also makes its own electronics (all tube) and speakers.  $30 k is at the bottom of the custom-built range, but even the bottom is really quite good.  Most speakers are made utilizing vintage drivers, typically a large dynamic woofer, a compression/horn midrange, and dome tweeters.