speaker choice for new 20x30 audio room

Most importantly, what sound are you going for?  I was looking around at that price range 10 months ago and was trying to decide between Kef R11s, Focal 948s and Klipsch Cornwall 4s.  I ended up getting a pair of Sonus Faber Sonetto VIIIs through the trade up program and they are amazing.  My only regret is not having enough to go for the Olympica Novas.  

Recently I've been auditioning a bunch around the 10k range and the Focal Kanta 2's are excellent speakers.  Very punchy bass, crisp detail and something I'd consider getting.  The McIntosh XR100s are also a rather interesting pair of speakers.  HUGE sound stage and a fun speaker to listen to on the right setup.  I heard them on a Prima Luna with EL34s and a Moon integrated and it was awesome, but on a McIntosh setup they were way to laid back and polite.  The Revel 228be and Kef Reference 3's are a bit of a let down, very dull sounding and boring.  Same goes for the pair of ELAC speakers at that point.  

Currently I'm waiting around for a good used pair of Sf Olympica Novas, Focal Kantas, or possibly a pair of Wilson Audio speakers to pop up locally at a resonable price.  

Congratulations! You are clearly on the path to a great audio system. Speakers are really important… they must speak to you…they must evoke an emotional reaction. Given your room… you definitely need to push the upper end of your budget… like used Sonus Faber Olympica 3… or better… if they speak to you, like they do to me. I am on my third set… given the size of your room Sonus Faber Amati Traditional would be appropriate… but those are $30K. Take your time… if you have to get more inexpensive ones to prove the the connect, that can work… then in a few years upgrade to the next level. Over the last ten years I owned Sonus Faber Cremona, Olympica 3, and now Amati Traditional… each step has been incredible. My room is about the size of yours.

Make sure the AC is removed and quieted… big time. Otherwise it will really screw up your noice floor.

I will second the recommendation on Legacy speakers. I also run mine from a node 2i source and through an Emotiva pre amp. Depending on your true budget The Focus SE or XD. I have the XD. These 4 way speakers with their folded ribbon tweeters and dual 12 inch subs will absolutely send chills. Especially good on high quality recordings for sure. Artists like Dianna Krall and others with highly detailed recordings are absolutely mind blowingly good on these speakers. I also use an Alexa routine to turn the whole thing on through various triggers and at the same time, turn off the mini fridge to make the room dead quiet

I am running some Ryan R630’s. At your budget you could move up to the S840’s. If you haven’t finished the build out, you could double your framing and cross bracing, use glue and screws on the sheet rock and rockwool for insulation and you not only won’t need much room treatment, but you will probably create a much better accoustic environment than the post construction fixes. The key is to prevent the walls from being resonators and this has worked well for me.

Magnepan 3.7 or secondhand mg20.