[Depereo]

For reference I own some HD555s and Monster Turbines. I am by no means an audiophile and have never owned what many here would consider audiophile gear. I might describe myself as an enthusiast or astute-listener. My primary interest in speakers is in listening to digital music, some HD movies and occaisionally some games.
I have a large music collection in mainly MP3 VBR V2-V0 Rock/Blues, Metal, Electronic.
 
My 555s have served me very well over the years and have made me a very big fan of Sennheiser as a result. I have come to enjoy their sound very much but after graduating and getting a full-time job I am finally in a financial position to upgrade.
 
I bought an Auzentech Meridian 2G PCI card a few weeks ago along with the Corsair SP2500s.
 
The Meridian arrived first, after installing it I began to hear a pretty big difference in the music I was listening to, especially at higher volumes. The overall sound seemed much cleaner and well-defined, less-muddy with little to no percievable distortion. The bass (which had never been very strong with the 555s) became present was very tight and not at all muddy. 5.1 DTS/AC3 to stereo decoding was much improved and I found myself re-watching a lot of my HD movies just to try and hear all the details I had been missing. I have all DSP/EQ settings on the card turned off as I much prefer the cards natural sound. I have not swapped op-amps but may plan to get some LM4592s in the future.
Overall I was very very pleased with my setup at this point.
 
Then the SP2500s arrived.
 
After hooking them up (3.5mm stereo out on the Meridian to 3.5mm line-in on the sub) I started listening and almost instantly I recognized a hollow/flat character of the mid-range. The highs were very detailed and crisp but the mids sounded somewhat lifeless. This quality is most evident with songs featuring a lot of synth pads which normally add atmosphere/depth and warmth to a track but instead sounded very cold and 1-dimensional.
The pros are the system is very powerful, even at high volumes I couldn't hear any distortion. The bass is very smooth yet clearly powerful, not distorted or rumbling at all. The sub is probably the best part performing part of the whole system and for me it leaves little to be desired. Unfortunately the bass cannot make up for the this system lacks in the mid-range frequencies.
 
I am very much missing the warm mids, for me it really seems to take the energy or excitement out of a lot of songs. Some electronic music sounds great with the excellent powerful, smooth bass and clear highs but rock/blues/jazz/metal often sound cold.

I paid $190 CDN for the sp2500 when they were on sale, I believe they have an MSRP of about $250. I have noticed some pretty high end 2.0/2.1 systems in the 200-350 range and I was wondering what your reccomendations are.
 
So far I have seen these names pop up:
Swan M200MkII
Swan M50
Swan D1080MkII08
Audioengine A5
KRK RP5/6 G2
M-Audio BX5a
Prodipe Pro 8
 
To be honest I am much more concerned with an overall a balanced, detailed sound than bass performance, so I am willing to forgo the sub for the time being. I have heard RP6 G2s (with the 10S) in person and they pretty much exemplify what I'm looking for in speakers excluding the price of course.

 

[JRG1990]

Prodipe pro 5 there very simlar to the krk's but don't have as much bass and treble boost and the mids are a bit clearer.

 

[Depereo]

After doing some more reading around the forums and similar threads it seems like Prodipe Pro 5/8s, KRK RPG2 might be a good bet.
I'm kinda stuck on whether the extra $ for the Prodipe Ribbons are really worth it.

 

[JRG1990]

Ribbons do sound better than the domes, but ribbons are alot more directive the ribbons are only worth it if you can place them pointing directly at your ears in near field, if you want to fill a room with sound then the domes will do a better job.