About a year and a half ago I decided to buy my first decent sound system, and move away from the HTIAB systems.
I ended up going with these:
http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Monitor70-Floorstanding-Loudspeaker/dp/B00631YX62/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441371420&sr=8-2&keywords=polk+floor+speakers&pebp=1441371433190&perid=175PR08XK1AHE3KTEE1Z
Very affordable, and in my opinion at least, they sound awesome. A year and a half later I'm still very happy with my purchase. I also got matching center speaker (cs10), two rear bookshelf speakers (35B's), a Bic Acoustech PL-200 sub, and a Yamaha RX-V377 receiver. Grand total of just over $1,000. I'm no audiophile, so I'm not about to spend $5,000+ on a sound system. It was a great investment though.