2.5K including stands.  Currently one of the best deals in speakers.

I wonder what other good non-pro monitors are out there.  <4K / >4K.  DIY even.

There are a ton of them. At the entry level (around $600-800/pr) the little Peachtree speakers (formerly ERA) and the baby Silverlines aren't bad, and Epos makes some decent monitors for around $1,000. When you start getting much below that, the compromises from price constraints are so heavy that you might as well not even bother. The moderate priced PSBs are also not bad. LSA speakers have a lot of hype around them, IMO it's undeserved.

ProAC monitors I like, and I think Fritz does an awesome job with pretty much everything he makes. At around $2500, the Rev 7 may be untouchable. At the very least, there's a hell of a lot of value in that speaker. I am curious about the Amphion Argon3, which I haven't heard. Amphion uses a low 1.6Khz crossover point, in order to get it out of the more sensitive 2Khz region that most two-ways use. The wave guide gives me some pause due to possible effect on soundstaging, but supposedly they image very well, with the benefit of being somewhat easier to position than some other speakers. On my list, definitely.

You often see Escalante monitors on Audiogon for massive discounts (75% off or more) it's because they aren't very good and nobody wants them. Anything with a LCY twin-ribbon tweeter like the Volent Paragon should be avoided. Ribbon tweeters look super cool, but their dirty little secret is that most of them are fucking HORRIBLE. RAALs and Ravens are pretty much the only exception other than a few that are custom made for hyper expensive speakers like Genesis. There's a reason why most of the best speaker companies don't use them. That said, my favorite monitor does use a Raven ribbon, and is also a dipole. With good setup, the NOLA Micro Grand Reference is *insanely good* as you would expect given its price which is now $15K+ for the Series II. You can look at it in two ways, either absurdly expensive for a stand mount monitor, or bargain priced for a NOLA Grand Reference.

If you're comfortable with a bit of DIY, you'll likely do very well with a kit like this: http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/2-way-speaker-kits/nada-2-way-klang-ton-kit-pair-using-illuminator/

The SS Illuminator drivers are some of the very best commercially available, at the very least in the same league if not superior to the Seas Excel drivers in the $7500/pr Joseph, and unless the Accuton ceramics are implemented correctly with the right design and crossover, the Illuminators will sound better.

Yep, although they often bring their big guns to audio shows which isn't the wisest move. The Orpheus and the Ulysses need big spaces to really work well, not moderate sized hotel rooms with crappy acoustics. The DA-RMa or Athena though should fit in most rooms and sound excellent.

I'll refrain from making jokes about the cables.

Is there an audible limit at where speakers don't go under in a certain sized room? What I mean is, is there a point at which no matter how hard you try you won't get certain speakers to perform at-spec in a given setting?

Yep, although they often bring their big guns to audio shows which isn't the wisest move. The Orpheus and the Ulysses need big spaces to really work well, not moderate sized hotel rooms with crappy acoustics. The DA-RMa or Athena though should fit in most rooms and sound excellent.

I'm going to copy this over to my other speaker thread so I don't derail the OP's.