I'm a bit late to this thread - but have you considered KEF Coda 90? In your price range, and if they're anything like my Coda 9 they'll be damned good. I've had these old Coda 9s for years upon years, running them off a Myryad MI120 (£600 worth of amp).
If you shop around you should be able to pick some B&W 603 S3's for £450 **cough** Sevenoaks **cough**. Sold some for £500 with a load of speaker wire. I currently have a pair of 603 S2's and have some 804's on special order, I got a good deal on them too. Also give Bose a miss. Thay are awful. This article pretty much explains what I found... http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html
