The Monitor Audios I have heard are very good, especially with the ribbon tweeters. I would also look into whichever Golden Ear speakers fit your budget.
My main speakers are in your price range - Ohm Walsh 2000s ($2800/pr). Although they do thrive on large reserves of power, they worked fine full range when I hooked up an old Onkyo surround AVR rated at 80 watts per channel. They are sold factory direct with a 120 day return option, but you will lose the round-trip shipping if you return them. In fact. for the last three months with my amp in the shop (ugh, don't ask), I have been running them off a $500 Pioneer AVR, and they sound great. Not as good as with my regular amp, but pretty darned good.
I am about 50/50 2-channel music and video myself. I have smaller Ohms for the center and surrounds, and Paradign Atoms for the rear channels. Although I am not as picky about my surround sound as I am for stereo listening, my system is more than adequate for film soundtracks. I have a Def Tech sub for the LFE channel and a pair of Vandersteen 2Wq subs for the left & right main channels.
There are better speakers, but there are few that I have heard in the sub-$3K price range that I would rather own than my 2000s. My complete review of these speakers is in the review section of A-gon.
