I would take a look at the Polk line of tower speakers.  I bought my monitor 75T's at newegg  for a little over $200 a piece on sale.  You have to kind of watch when they put them on sale.  These speakers sound amazing  and I'm only pushing them with a 50W Onkyo stereo receiver. The clarity and the punch in these speakers are great.  You hear things on CD and vinyl that you never heard before .  They also have some slightly lower end Polk's that would be a little less in price.  My musical tastes pretty much line up with yours .  Classic rock has never sounded so good on these  Polk's.  Check out the Polk 55T's at newgg right now , only $99 a piece .