The answer to this question really depends on your listening style and area. For desktops, and small rooms I really recommend good quality powered nearfield monitors. The Fluid Audio FX8 are modern looking (black speakers set in a white case or all black) coaxial design with very good bi-amplification - 130 watt class A-B. The concentric driver (tweeter mounted in the center of the woofer) makes them much smaller than the usual speakers with 8" woofers They run about $250 each. There's a well written review here at
Sound on Sound. I'm not as bass hungry as you perhaps, so I wouldn't use a subwoofer with them, but I know one studio that does. I've heard their pair now a few times, and they seem to be suited to the kind of music you describe.
If you like the look, the relatively new ESI uniK 05+ is much smaller, and probably needs a subwoofer for someone who really likes the bottom octaves. Black case with an gold/orange 5" driver and a flat rectangular folded flat plane tweeter gives them an assertive look. I've heard them now a couple of times in another neighborhood studio where they sit on the owner's desk- for his personal listening. A German reviewer who's well known in pro/am audio circles gave it this
review.
B&H sells it here in the States.
Finally there are several Senal models in your price range. They are strikingly modern and beautiful looking with a shape that's a bit hard to describe. The smaller models are built with subwoofers in mind. I've heard them in many small studios and like the sound - clean and punchy, never boomy.
I use ancient Event 20/20's at my writing desk, and either newer Emes or truly ancient and now a bit fragile passive Tannoy's at the mixing board. I'd recommend the Event's or the Eme's, but they're a bit pricey, esp. the Emes. Tannoy's current line-up is mostly KRK grade junk. After years of sitting at music workstations, listening to decent quality nearfield speakers, usually driven by well constructed, but very moderately priced audio interfaces, I now find myself very dissatisfied with the typical mid-fi, under $3,000 speaker/receiver systems, whether 2.0 or 2.1. If you want to listen at the other end of a 22ft living room, nearfield monitors aren't the right stuff, but if your listening is going to be desk-bound, or within 8 to 10 ft, I think you'll be able to find great sound with any of these active monitors. On the other hand, while there's some incredibly good high end gear out there, audio engineers tend to make jokes about people who swear by their $100 a foot "high end" speaker cables and their monoblock tube amps costing 5 grand or more. We know how much more important a quality balanced mic cable that sell for under 5 dollars a foot is to the signal chain.
Whatever you buy, good luck, and I hope you enjoy your listening.