My recommendation will be a bit different from what most will tell you. But there are three things that made the most difference for me.
A. UNDERSTANDING SPEAKER DESIGN - IMPROVING THE TECHNOLOGY
This is an attempt to fully understand the value focus of the speaker manufacturer - i.e. where has the manufacturer invested their money.
We need speakers where the manufacturer has invested money in things that will make a difference to the sound.
Where could they invest money :
1. Advertising
2. Endorsements
3. Dealer chain
4. Support
5. Resonance free cabinet - I think MDF is a cost effective choice
6. Damping and bracing of the internal chambers
7. Drivers
8. Controls - knobs
9. Crossovers
10. Quality Amplifiers- I think Class A/B amps still supersede in this category of monitors
11. DSP
12. Configuration - Coaxial, 2 way, 3 way, ported, non ported, and method for achieving improvements over a single speaker design.
At the very high end, where money is no object, it is possible to pay for the very best in all of these components.
Where cost is a constraint, the manufacturer must make compromises. We need the one with the least compromises in the things that matter the most.
Let's separate the men from the boys. Good DSP is not cheap, and over reliance on DSP could imply that some avoidable compromises may have been accepted in the physical aspects, preferring to correct them via DSP.
At the lower end of the market, I would recommend avoiding speakers with DSP, which implies that money has been diverted from the basics of good acoustic design.
Every monitor - even the most expensive have compromises - acoustic laws dictate this.
You are probably better off investing in DSP which you can manage yourself and tweak to taste, which also adapts to the room, and also attempts to correct issue arising from the physical imperfections of your monitors and room.
e.g sonarworks.
B. UNDERSTANDING YOUR ROOM - ADJUSTING THE ENVIRONMENT
In a small room, room modes exacerbated by placement near walls will be an issue. leading to a boomy low end.
I strongly recommend because the walls reflections add to the low frequencies, that where possible use monitors whose ports can be blocked or use non ported monitors. My monitors had ports that were easy to block, and it just tightened up the low end ever so much - much less boom and "echo" or "decay" in the low end - just lovely tight - smack in the bass.
If its a bedroom - or lounge soft furnishing (including bedding) and fabric on walls - and books or objects placed randomly to breakup the square room reflections/ and diffuse the audio, probably more effective than bland acoustic treatment.
You will need to invest days and weeks of listening to tweak the positioning, including your seating position, monitor ports/blocking them and furniture layout of your room to incrementally improve it, until no further improvements can be made, with the same room/monitors.
C. UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEARING - KNOWING YOURSELF
Our brains need calibration. When you come in to a dark room from a bright outdoors, adjustment is needed.
Above all for audio is understanding that sweet spot of level when your own particular ears are hearing at their best. and this will vary with each song - typically based on their average level.
A listening environment where you can easily adjust volume to hear each piece of audio at the right volume is indispensable. Volume is probably the greatest variation in our hearing, that makes things sound different. Either you have a very good monitor controller with a dial or you use level managers in the digital environment - in your DAW or software controller for your audio interface.
I find that I use both - the monitor hardware dial on my audio interface, to bring it close to my preferred volume, and then in software I can adjust in 0.5db increments. I find that there's a window of about 1 or 2 DB max for each audio item, where it sounds right and anything above or below that is too loud or too soft. The exact level or 1-2 db window of course varies for each audio item I'm listening too - depends on the initial volume of the audio. (or more accurately the average volume - e.g RMS)
In my case a certain turn of the head towards the speakers - lets me hear with such distinct clarity, that the room effect is cancelled. This I use for critical listening for short periods. This momentarily turns the audio to almost mono (hearing predominantly both monitors from one ear). I rotate which ear I use for this critical listening.
D. SPEAKER CHOICE
What you actually buy or use is the 4th component of your excellent listening environment.
You need to get all the other three done properly.
Ideally 3 way monitors like the ATC SCM25A or Neumann KH310 bring another level of clarity in comparison to the 2 way monitors, but would be overkill for your room. and budget
I would recommend no more than 7 inch woofers, for a room size (assuming your measures were in feet). and no less than 5 inch woofers.
Therefore Focal Alpha 65, is an excellent starting point. they were the clearest monitors in the sub $1000 price bracket. If I was in the market with your budget. That would be my choice. If I could fully or partly block the ports - even better - to get an even tighter bass. They are far more than loud enough for your room. Compared to the very best monitors that money can buy, they have a slightly compromised top top end and bottom, bottom end, but within reasonable money they acquit themselves very well. In comparison, the Genelecs and Adams sound definitely brighter at the top end and especially the Adams boomier in the upper low end, without really getting into the depths on the low end.
What I like about the Focal Alpha's 65 and moreso the Alpha 80's, is the clarity, the sense of being in the same virtual hall as the music. The Alpha 80's excel at this even more so, like watching a flat screen TV, which has a blacker than black background, you get the sense that the Alphas have the least distortion added to the audio of all the affordable monitors - no harshness at all. Yet they are not dull, just a version of the truth.
If you do not mind a slightly boomier/sluggish bass(which you could tame with the controls), or port blocking, but with the greatest sense of realism of all the affordable monitors - the Alpha 80's would have been my recommendation, but your room may be a bit small. In truth the 80's even in a small room would be a revelation, it would sound like the speakers disappeared and all you were hearing was the performer. I found the Alphas a definite cut above the rest.
The stereo image on the Alphas was spectacular and they were the most balanced on all manner of music - with a very good resolution. It did not matter what the music was, it was well presented - accurately without flattery.
In comparison, with the Yamaha's it was obvious that you were listening to speakers, - adding that hi-fi signature some boom and tizz, which some may like. I did not gravitate towards this signature.
What really sold the Alphas to me was an uncanny side effect of really good reproduction systems. The relative lack of distortion, can cause you without realising it, to raise the volume significantly above what is good for your ear health, and not be aware or it, because there is no added noise, in the amplification. Even at volumes higher than is good for long term listening, they remained extremely transparent to let only the music through.
I prefer not to use eq or tweaking the controls at the back of the monitors. I prefer where possible to use physics.
I did not believe the Genelecs 8xxx' series. I listened quite a bit to the 8050 Rear porting makes the Genelecs a no no for me in a small room, too many sounds from too many places - a recipe for mush.
not too different.
The most important aspect I seem to have left out is setting the various gains at the back of your monitors, interface, software, etc so that as much as possible you end up controlling your volume from only one place in actual use.
There are many more small tweaks you could consider but I'll stop here.
My point being that the choice of monitor is only one in a large number of decisions you need to make to optimise their use.
May I add, different ears prefer different things. Metal tweeters have their own signature. Silk tweeters also have one.
If you can listen to the Yamaha HS8, Presonus Eris 8, and Focal Alpha 80 or their smaller equivalents and pick what you prefer.
IMHO you'd need to spend in the region of $2500 or more to find anything significantly better.