Maxflier

I upgraded recently to Athena Audition series speakers and i like them a lot.
Haven't heard the micra ones, but i'm sure they are excellent as well.

awmurray

Oh yea, one more site that I find useful for user reviews is Audio Review. Lots of reviews are collected there.

Spiky

This is one of the subs I compared my first sub against when shopping. Most other subs I had access to were not comparable to the Descent. But mine beat it ever so slightly. And cost 80% less. SVS 2039PC+.

Sdallnct

Also, really watch the deal sites. I was able to pick up some very nice Celestion's 5.1 set up including sub for about $250 on clear out at Best Buy (Normally about $700+). They also cleared out some Athena's, but I never listened to them.

The NHT previously mentioned are always a safe choice for the money. Highly recommended.

As mentioned, you must listen to whatever you think you might want or buy from a place with a good easy return policy. Speakers vary in sound more then any other component. Doesn't mean KEF is better then JBL or vice versa. But there are those out there that will defently prefer one over the other (I would always take the KEF while others would always take the JBL - not good or bad just different).

OH, and have fun!