I heard a system at the Pacific Audio Fest that delivered amazing performance for the money. It's a pair of small stand-mount active speakers from Vanatoo. They sell for $599 and are driven by a digital source (USB, spdif, or Bluetooth). They include a subwoofer output, but they sounded very nice without there sub connected. These easily embarrassed systems costing way more.
Add a Bluesound Node and a pair of nice stands and you're in for about $1500. Add a nice sub or two if you want to spend a little more.