First, I tend to like
@zieglj01 speaker recommendations; he has owned quite a few speakers in this range.
What I do and what you do may be very different. I wouldn't ask strangers on the internet what I should do in the first place
as I tend to make up my mind based on research and keep moving forward from there. In your shoes I'd first get a sub and see if that makes a difference; it should with such small speakers and the lack of low end IMO. YMMV, though. Starting with 2.1 is a very reasonable path, tho.