Thanks for the reply, kapsn01.
My max budget is $1,500, but that includes a receiver. I was probably going to nab one of those on accessories4less, and try to keep it under $300 -- which would leave $1200 for the rest. I'm not really looking to just buy a couple things and add to it later. I want to get a full 5.1 setup for that $1,200. I can maybe go a little bit higher than that, but I would want to make sure the bump in quality justifies spending the additional money. So if a $100 speaker is only marginally worse than a $400 speaker, I'd prefer to just go with the $100 one, if that makes sense.
But it sounds like you're saying, even at $100/speaker, the SF-2 is not going to get the job done well enough to justify pulling the trigger -- especially if there is no real rush to build out the set?
I have been keeping an eye on craigslist, but since I live in Kansas City, there aren't a huge number of postings to choose from. The only one that has seemed to be a decent deal is in cherry finish, which isn't aesthetically pleasing enough, apparently