Speakers are really in the ear of the listener--eye of the beholder type thing--I can heartily recommend Athena AS-B2.2 bookshelf speakers  --clear, crisp and reasonably priced.  I use 5 of them for surround but sometimes 2 for stereo music sounds better.

Upon reading the title of this thread I imagined it would be about hiring good public speakers...

If you want really high end try LINN speakers 

I'm a better writer than I am a speaker...

oh wait.

I broke the bank for my downstairs Speakercraft surround system, but upstairs I went cheaper and it sounds great.  I have a Yamaha receiver and Jamo speakers.  The speaker system is very crisp and clean and it has a powerful bass.  It comes with a typical surround setup- two front, two rear, a bass, and a center channel.  It was well worth the $550 or so.

As far as surround systems go, you are going to get much better quality if you avoid all "systems in a box."  You get much better sound if you buy the receiver and speaker system seperately.

I've a little bit of experience in sound so I'll give you my two cents ..

If you go to a hi-fi store they will tell you that "A SONY/JVC/Samsung/BrandX stereo system cannot compete with high end Marantz/Denon/whatever". They aren't necessarily lying to you .. it's just that most of the population will not notice the difference!  They will also tell you that you shouldn't buy a single brand .. some people make good amps, others good speakers and again, they ain't lying to you but the zeros just keep collecting on the end of the price.  Also, you will then lose a few hundred dollars on gold plated, vacuum sealed, woven by busty maidens etc speaker cabling .. which, to a certain extent, works and losing audio fidelity between amp and speaker does happen with analogue cabling - it's just that, if you're putting this system in a room filled with bookcases and sofas and stuff - you're probably not going to notice!

Look at a pic of a professional recording studio and you won't see the same names on the speakers .. they're actually not speakers they're reference monitors.  All speakers will colour the sound to a certain extent.  Reference monitors try not to.  In any studio you'll see black speakers with white cones - those a Yamaha NS10s (or equivalent) and are the industry standard .. every studio will have a pair on top of the desk.  I use a pair of these  http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/edirol-ma-15d-digital-stereo-micro-active-monitors--27074 which true audiophiles will laugh at but it's for an MP3 player in a small room so suits just fine ..

Sorry about the long-winded response (if only I was this verbose about Celtics stuff, eh?) but what I'm trying to get at is that it's a minefield that you're walking into!  Think about what you want it for and where.  Don't be sold something more than you need.  Take it home.  Listen.  Take it back if you don't like it.  If you are fine with Apple headphones, you're not going to give a hoot about the colouration of the sound of a SONY (or BOSE for that matter) .. you'll just like the way it sounds (or not) !!

J

Bose are junk.  They have good commercials but anyone who knows anything about audio will tell you all they do is really boost the midrange.  I would suggest PSB,  they are cheap for good speakers and sound good.  You can get a surround setup with a good sub for about 1K. Paradigms are good too.  PSB has a nice website too.  They are small but pretty decent speakers for the cost.

Go to stores and listen.  All ears are different what sounds good to me may not sound good to you.  You can tell a difference between say Marantz and Sony its obvious those who have never listened to good audio may say you can't hear a difference.  But on one system I can hear guitar on the good one, I hear nuances like picks on the guitar and subtle things I missed on the budget system.  Take a disc you listen to alot and make them play it.  A good song I use to test speakers with is Jane by Jefferson Starship/ Airplane.  It has a lot of rock and drums and singing and gives me a pretty good idea of a what a speaker will sound like with what I listen too.  If you listen to rap bring rap CD etc.