I use several RAAL ribbons in my main multichannel setup and am a huge proponent and admirer of their performance in their respective loudspeaker integrations. I also have several very competent Revel speakers with beryllium tweeters and easily prefer the treble reproduction of the ribbons, so I understand the ease with which one can start to limit options in driver design and materials to what they've found works well. However, I would caution anyone to not get too hung up on such things. The entire package needs to be considered.
With that in mind, I recently purchased Neumann KH 150s for nearfield use on a desktop and am absolutely thrilled with their performance. As their measurements show, they are incredibly transparent, perfectly balanced, maintain somewhat narrow but very well controlled directivity (a benefit for desktop use where walls are typically close by), can play extremely loudly with no audible distortion, and offer very respectable bass extension for their size. If you opt to use the MA 1 room correction software and can get beyond the sometimes buggy and frustrating UX, the end result can be wonderful. I dialed a healthy bass boost into my target curve and am in heaven while working away at my desk.
I can't help you with the aesthetics, though. I think they look fine. My wife seems to agree with you.
FWIW, I'm not sure where you live, but I was able to get them brand new from an authorized dealer for $2940 shipped to the USA, which would bring them closer in pricing to the HEDDs.