Personally I think especially at budget levels you will get MUCH better sound from bookshelf speakers. In fact, bookshelf speakers are bound to be more accurate in almost all real world listening rooms. Love bass? blend in a sub, very carefully. 

Personal story.. I had expensive mid size towers in my old listening room. I got the KEF LS50, and they mercilessly butchered the towers (about 8x the cost) .. pioneer has the amazing Jones designed towers for a bit over 100... Get 40 buck stands and you will get staging and accuracy. Never listened to the towers u are considering though.

how big is your listening room?

I suggest that you consider the Mordaunt-Short Carnival 8 speakers, which Audio Advisor has for $249 each. They are remarkably good-sounding for their price.

Based on your stated listening preferences and type of listening, I think you will end up throwing money away if you get anything cheaper.