"Best Bang for the Buck."
I've listened to B&W 604 S2's($1400), JM lab's Cobalt 816 S ($2000), Martin Logan's ($2500), Polk ($1200), Boston Acoustic's VR-3 ($1300) and Snell's LCR7 ($2000).

By far the best speaker I've listened to is the Snell's LCR7. Side by side comparison with the Snell the B&W and the Martin Logan the Snell outperformed them both.
I also made side by side comparisons with only the JM lab, Polk and Martin Logan, The Martin logan slightly surpassed the JM lab because of its very large soundstage however the tonal qualities were quite similar. I can't remember the name of the Polk speaker but I do remember the price. The Polk could hold its own against the JM lab speaker and was quite a value.
I listened to the Boston Acoustics speaker with no side by side comparison. I asked the salesman to please turn it off and thanked him for his time.

In short the Polk speaker was by far the best "Bang for the Buck." However not the best speaker under $2k. That honor goes to the Snell LCR7 a compact speaker but don't let that fool ya. It's sound will knock your socks off! They are also hard to find and relatively new to the market but if you get the chance to listen to them be ready to be impressed.