Best 2.0 speakers for under 200?

All right, so Christmas time is here ~Sings the Peanuts song to go along with post~.

Meaning I have cash to spend. I've been using really awful speakers to listen to music up til now which shouldn't even be mentioned for fear of scarring audiophile eyes. I want to move up to a quality 2.1 set of speakers. I will likely add a Dayton Sub 1200. They will be 100% for computer usage so I will want a nearfield pair of speakers.

Active, Powered, doesn't really matter. I can buy an amp if necessary. Ideally, I would like to keep the price of the speakers to under 200. Used is fine, but I would like convenience and the fastest way to get the speakers would be from a store most of the time.

So I'm not the best with speakers, but I've come to the conclusion that I should be looking at the following pairs of speakers:

KRK Rokit 8

NHT SuperZero 2.0

M-Audio BX5A/Possibly BX8A (what's the difference between these two other than the BX8A's have more bass and a better tweeter? Is it worth going from 5 to 8 for 100 dollars more?)

Alesis M1

I'm sure there are a few others and if I've missed any feel free to add on. What are your opinions on these monitors? Which should I cross off my list? I want the best quality, highest detail, best sounding speakers. Whether they have bass or not doesn't matter since I'll be buying a subwoofer to go along with them. If you could tell me which you would choose and why over the others that would be great.

I realize I could get Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's for 100 bucks or so new, but I'm sure going with proper speakers would be a huge benefit, no?

I'll probably hook them up to a Titanium HD for now and an external DAC later on. If music taste matters, I'm very into gothic rock, progressive rock, alternative, and other genres. I am very open to all kinds of music though. I absolutely love my classical and Jazz. These are very important to me as well. Some of my favorite bands are Rammstein, Muse, Deftones, Lacuna Coil and Nightwish (before new singer). I also enjoy Vivaldi, Yoko Kanno, Hanz Zimmer and many others.

Female Vocals are particurly important to me for Gothic Rock.

Anyhoo, I hope I answered any questions you may have. Let's hear some opinions. I'll probably head to guitar center tomorrow and listen to some speakers btw. Just wanted to get other opinions in case they don't have these particular speakers there.

Pretty sure these are 2 speakers for 150, no?

http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-70-watt-Bi-amplified-Reference-Monitors/dp/B0014IEBM0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324776376&sr=8-1

The KRKs I found were the same for 200.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRG1990 

What about a passive set-up , amp http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-DTA-100a-Class-T-Digital-Amplifier/dp/B004JK8BDK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1324732754&sr=8-2 , http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-TSi100-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00192KF12/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1324732810&sr=1-5

 

Also I think your find the krk's are $200 each , $400 a pair , probley the same for the m-audios you should check that there priced per a pair.

Also, I could use Passive Speakers. How would these compare to Infinity Primus 153 speakers or Paradigm Titans? How do the Titans compare to the Primus? I can nab IP 153's for 100 dollars or less for both.