I've been moving around a lot and I set up a temporary budget home studio here recently, with JBL305s.

They're insanely good value - not perfect, but considering they cost as little as some PC speakers they're better than many of the entry/semi-pro near fields I've heard costing high three figures per pair.

I'm slightly biased against Genelecs. I think they're expensive for what they are, and I've always found the sound distractingly clinical rather than reassuringly objective. I wouldn't recommend them for home listening.

They do appear in studios, but maybe more often in university/research labs. They don't have a lock down among studio owners, who have a lot of other choices.

Room sound is totally a thing. High end studios can literally spend more on acoustic treatment consultancy than speakers. Low/mid studios won't spend that much, but anyone who's serious about monitoring will put up bass traps and absorbent panels to try to tame the more obvious resonances. You'll get objectively measurable benefits that will do more to improve the sound than magic oxygen-free mains cables and hand-knitted USB leads will.

That makes the mega-speaker audiophile thing kind of ridiculous. If you spend more than $10k on a system without treating your room at all, you're simply wasting your money.

Honestly the best bang for the buck would be to buy decent power amp. Then find good cheap old speakers from Craigslist or something like that. Speakers often outlast amps, which brings the price down. I just had to give away perfectly good three way pioneer speakers for free. Speakers do wear, but not linearly. They are first like new until they are completely broken.

When you have speakers and amp, room acoustics is the next thing. Start with curtains. Clap your hands, if you hear disturbing echo, add something soft.

200e for amp, 60e for two used speakers and 40 for nice curtains. 300e total and you might have better audio than someone who spent 1000e for surround home theater.