Considering the Rule of Diminishing Returns.......

I answer your question with questions.

How many have you heard?
How many "budget" systems have you heard?

If you are that skewed towards HT, I would say don't spend the $$$. Of course this is all personal opinion I'm spewing, but crashes and booms don't require the detail that I would want when I'm listening to music...IMO

I would point you towards Paradigm Reference Series speakers, Monitor Audio, Definitive Technology or something along those lines. They will excel as HT speakers, and are great for music too, but do lack some magic offered by the elite speaker manufacturers. I'm not sure what you are about to spend for the Aerials ($8K???), but you can get the ones I mentioned for $2k new. Used is also a good way to buy, but can't demo that way. Tyler Acoustics also offers quality stuff, in fact there are many different companies to buy...I just don't see spending over $2-3K for HT speakers.

My $0.02.

m-

I agree with Mdomnick that the Paradigm Reference Series would be a good choice for an HT system. I think they blow away DefTech and virtually everything else in their price range, but then I own a pair of 100v2s so my opinion is not really to be trusted. Do keep in mind if you choose Paradigms that they are power hungry and that they are at their best at medium to high levels. Not the ideal choice if you want Barely Manbelow purring in the background.

I have two systems in my house, a 2-channel system using JMLabs Mezzo Utopias ($15K) and an HT system using the Paradigms ($2K). It is my sometime fancy to bring first-time visitors into the house, blindfold them, and lead them from one room to the other, asking them to tell me which speaker system costs 7.5 times as much as the other. Virtually no one can tell--not even alleged Golden Ears.

Does that mean there's no difference? Assuredly not! Longer term listening reveals definite differences in favor of the JMLabs. It does, however, suggest that such differences are not nearly so great as we may enchant ourselves by believing.

will

check out newform research or VMPS for great speakers on lower budget than the aerials.
take all the time you need, there's no justification for feeling queasy writing a check when you can do some more research and ultimately feel better about your choice in relation to the money spent.
Paradigm is pretty good, with an entirely different sound than the Aerial, brighter sounding in general.