Sound is in the ear of the beholder. What sounds good to you may not sound good to your partner. Polk, Klipsch, Energy, Def-Tech, JBL, et al make great sounding 5.1 systems with bookshelf speakers under $1000.00 The important thing is to audition any speakers before buying. Sadly with the demise of so many brick & mortar stores, comparing speakers is tougher than ever. Two years ago I upgraded my front speakers on my surround system. The salesman allowed me to hook up my MP3 player into a receiver so I could select the music tracks I wanted to listen to. I made sure I was listening in stereo with out a sub-woofer. I then did A/B comparisons with several models eventually narrowing it down to two. I find that by selecting speakers that sound good for the type of music I listen to, also sound good when watching a DVD. Don't be intimidated by all the connections. Your Pioneer probably came with a diagram for hook-ups which is pretty much fool proof. However you did go about this a little backwards. Select the speakers first, then the receiver. That is not to say you still wouldn't have ended up with the Pioneer, but by selecting the speakers first, you may have decided on a different model. Good Luck