Speakers for small listening room

For a small room a monitor that has a front port or is sealed is easier to place, as speakers with rear ports are difficult to place next to the wall. For monitor speakers look at the Taylor Reference monitor, which I own and sounds quite nice with the Rogue 88 amp. Dynamic with plenty of bass. Both frequently come up used on Audiogon, the Taylo for about $1200 and the amp about $900. The Osiris speaker stands are for sale now at $240. Preamp--Rogue 66 magnum for sale at $900. Add some Homegrown Silver Lace interconnects and Analysis Plus cables.

Do people consider 11 x 18 a small room? Seems mid-size to me and certainly big enough to handle a floostander. (I've heard rumors to the effect that HP's pirmary listening rooms are no bigger than this, and he puts godzilla-sized speakers in them all the time.)

Sean and the others are right. Definitely play with placement before you even bother with other speakers. I'd try a long wall placement ASAP. A friend had a room about the size of yours. Two hours of moving things around made far more improvement than swapping in about $10,000 of electronics.

Thanks to all.... I have been reading all this great stuff, and I have taken away a few things.

1. Experiment more. I need to take some serious time to move stuff around beyond minimal changes. It may save me some serious money.
2. There are some great specific suggestions, some of which revolve around using the long wall.... not an option without some major construction. Also, thanks to Tobias for his suggestion. I wouldnt have thought that one up without some one else coming up with it first.
3. There are some resources out the to help with this. Thanks, I will work with them.
3. There are some speakers (eg Gradient revolutions) that seem to have some design characteristics that speak to exactly the kind of issues that I seem to be facing. I will check them out after I have exhausted the above options.

All in all, thanks. I feel a little less hopeless about getting the sound I need.

I would suggest that you look in to room treatment. I am enjoying a pair of three-way, sealed, floorstanding speakers in a 12x16 room. While the overall amount of bass was not an issue, acoustical treatment went a long way in cleaning up the lower range as well other regions.

What might be a more important issue is listening fatigue, mainly due to a bright tweeter. I have done no research, but I suspect the cause to bleed down in to the midrange as well. I think you should be aware of this possible, and most bothersome problem, especially given your current amplification and budget. There is a lot of bright gear running around. I have about a total of $3k in amplification and speakers and had a problem fatigue. I bet you will be wiser in your component selection than I (although I have little regret), however. Besides the gear, an untreated room can make a large contribution this problem, and in my case, room treatment has solved it. Treatment will also have a positive effect on imaging & clarity throughout the entire frequency range.
Maybe I am making sound like an elixir, but I think acoustic paneling and bass traps is worth considering. It has certainly made my listening much more enjoyable.

Someone who knows a lot more about this than I is John Risch. In the FAQ section at audioasylum, he has some information and some DIY panels and traps that are very effective and that can be made to look nice. Well, as nice as a panel can look. Good luck.