Bang for the buck

@labguy,

“Solid state front end. May upgrade to a better integrated but plan to stay solid state.”

Are you using a home theater reciever, vintage integrated, etc. What is it you have exactly. Home theater Receiever on an efficient speaker may sound ok but is gonna fall flat on something like the Salk’s that you mentioned. 
 

Used Tektons or some new Tektons for that price is a good choice and can play nice with most electronics. The JBL 580 mentioned above I think is a good suggestion also. I’m sure the Salk’s are great as well but prepared to be underwhelmed if you don’t have a pretty descent front end. 

+1 for Vandersteens. Have owned 3 pairs since the 80s. They are a great all-around speaker, but you need to be sure your seated ear height is at or lower than tweeter level. They are very picky about that. Stand up and you lose most of the treble energy. Stay seated, at the correct height, and they will reward you with very good, non-fatiguing, well-balanced sound.

i would add to @tomcarr ’s comment on vandy's that they also like fairly serious power and damping factor (usually means substantial solid state amp) to get the excellent bass response they are designed to deliver

I like your idea of the KEF R3s.  If the KEF sound is to your taste they are less picky about placement than many other brands. This is helpful in a smaller room where there are limited placement options.  Down the road you will want to upgrade the sub.

As others have mentioned, what ever gear you have it will only sound as good as the room allows.  Room treatments are the biggest no brainer out there!  Cheers

In a small room a KEF LS50 Meta + a KEF KC62 sub is a killer combo. I loved this combo for the past year+. I sold the sub recently and looking to sell the LS50 Meta because my new amp does not play nice with subs. I will be getting the KEF Reference 1 meta for the same small room (no sub needed).

I am listening to the LS50 Meta right now with a CODA #16 amp and the amount of bass is the most I have ever heard (without a sub). The rush to upgrade on this sound is not that great, but I will eventually. The CODA #16 plays fine with subs, it is another amp that I am working to play nice in this room.

Only caveat is that you need power for the LS5 Meta to get the best out of them like I am. Though high quality power is not that expensive.