What speakers have you heard that you did or didn't like? I can think of three 5.1 setups off the top of my head for about $1000 that would have three different sound characteristics.
1. BTT917 mentioned the SVS system, which would actually be a bit over your budget with shipping plus the optional speaker stands if you'd need those. I haven't heard these myself, but there certainly has been a positive buzz about them. I would guess that given the silk dome tweeter they would tend to be slightly warm sounding, relatively speaking.
2. JBL Northridge series. You could put a number of different packages together within your budget depending on whether multi-channel music was a priority (then you could use 4 matching bookshelves + a center or even 5 identical bookshelves) or if it will mostly be for movies (go for a better center & front combination and then the wall mounted surrounds). The JBLs have a titanium dome tweeter which would sound "bright", relatively speaking.
3. BIC Acoustech. These use horn-loaded aluminum tweeters - some people love horns and others hate 'em, proponents call horns "detailed", detractors call them "harsh". I fall into the "detailed" camp, but I will say that the top end is rolled off a bit on these, perhaps a design decision to avoid a harsh quality (I understand Klipsch has done the same thing with the latest generation of their Reference line).
I'm sure others will chime in with other options in your price range.
I've heard the JBLs, used to have some JBL bookshelves with the titanium tweeters and I liked their sound very much. Unfortunately the models I had did not have a matching center so they weren't an option for a 5.1 setup.
I own the Acoustech set, and I am very pleased with them. My use is about 90% Movies/TV and only 10% music. Very pleased with the dynamic range and the diffuse sound field from the surrounds, and the ability to wall mount the surrounds worked great for my space.
The SVS speakers are a very good set I'm sure. My personal feeling is that solk dome tweeters are too laid back, so I probably wouldn't be happy with them myself.
