These
DCM TFE100s can hang with 1000/pr speakers from what I've been seeing from some members here who've purchased them. I bought a pair of bookshelf speakers from DCM's TP series (a step down from their TFE series) and am still surprised at how good they sound. I keep them in my living room on my subs still and hook them up every once in a while because they're fun to listen to.
Don't let the low price fool you, I'll bet you'd be hard pressed to find a pair of tower speakers under 1000 bucks that will outperform these. I'm just throwing it out there as a very, very good budget option. $1000 budget does give you some other choices.