I built some Ed's diy speakers complimented with a Tempest diy sub and can only say they sound fabulous with my outlaw 1050. My brother has some Paradigm Reference 80s with a Marantz 7200 amp. He says my speakers kill his. In fact he is getting me to build him a complete set of 6 diys. He also has become a believer in a good sub (building a Tempest for him also). He couldn't believe how much he was missing in his classical cds.
For the money I would go with Ed's diys and a good subwoofer. I'm a firm believer in having a seperate subwoofer rather than trying to have an all in one speaker design.
Take a look if you like:
http://www.picturetrail.com/mch1/1159742