A while back I was looking for some new speakers and I auditioned quite a few. One that stands out that did not need a sub was the Salk Song Towers. They have a beautiful sleek cabinet and if my memory serves me were around 1500.00, but sounded as good as most 2 to 2.5k sets I listened to and had a fantastic bass , tight, quick and clean.
Here is Dennis Murphy’s ( a consummate crossover artist) description of the design...
"The SongTower QWT is an MTM design using a mass-loaded quarter wave transmission line cabinet designed by Paul Kittinger and based on the pioneering work of Martin King. This transmission line cabinet allows the floor-standing speaker to exhibit greater bass extension than a ported design would normally allow.
This design is the end result of a year-long project to develop a very affordable (under $2000) speaker that
- 1) is wide range, with useful bass response to at least 40 Hz;
- 2) has a small enough footprint to allow cabinet dimensions with high SAF; and,
- 3) is sensitive enough to be compatible with a wide range of amplifiers.
Traditional 3-ways would almost certainly fail at least one of the last two requirements. Traditional 2-way bookshelf designs would require a large woofer that might not produce the best possible performance in the upper midrange, and would also require stand-mounting (low SAF).
The solution was to use two high quality 5" drivers optimally suited to Martin King's MLQW transmission line cabinet design, mated to a high quality tweeter. The Seas CA15 woofers were an obvious choice to perform bass duties, due to their appropriate electrical and mechanical parameters and extremely smooth and extended response at higher frequencies. The Hiquphon 0WII was perfectly suited for the design, since it is sensitive enough to keep up with twin CA15 woofers and provides almost ruler-flat response and extremely broad dispersion. In addition, this tweeter is rugged enough to allow a fairly low crossover frequency with room to spare.
The sensitivity of the MTM is conservatively rated at 88 dB, and can play a 38 Hz tone at high enough drive levels to set off rattles from loose objects in a typical room."
I also was impressed with some Vanderstien 2sige’s and almost bought them but I have a house full of little pokey fingers. They also need a lot of amp. Price is right there with your budget tho.
Hope this helps