In your price range, I like...
good value with these
FOCAL ELECTRA 1007 S BOOKSHELF SPEAKERS (Pr) at Music Direct I heard these a few times, love'em the 1008's are much money and still in your budget and NICE...
EPOS ELAN 15 SPEAKERS (CHERRY) **DEMO** at Music Direct own these, AWESOME speaker...
FOCAL PROFILE 908 SPEAKERS & STANDS BUNDLE at Music Direct never heard these but that a nice looking price...
others I heard that I like are...
PSB Synchrony B ones are nice for their price
PSB Synchrony One B
and anything from their imagine line...
Are you pairing these with a subwoofer? For my musical taste bookshelfs with 100w of power normally wont satisfy me, now if your cross out the lows and add a capable accurate subwoofer or 3 you will be into something... With bookshelfs, you give up some low end and efficiency, so you want a little more power {in most cases} and something on the bottom taking care of the lows...