I completely agree! I get frustrated when there is a lot of what I'll call "system creep" where someone asks for opinions about a $1200 pair of speakers, and someone else responds with a negative opinion of said speakers because they "aren't as nice as" a pair of speakers costing 4x as much. Orly? I was just reading a post about someone asking about a $600 sub, and someone else offering up a $5000 sub solution as an alternative.
We've got a little bit of a chicken and egg conundrum here. The OP wants to upgrade his speakers, but he may be getting ahead of himself, in terms of what his receiver can handle (personal opinion). Of course, we can always just say... great speaker upgrade but your next step may be a new A/V receiver, or an independent amp to drive your LCR. I also think there is a general misunderstanding that more watts = louder sound, when what people really need to consider is more watt headroom = better sound.
Well... I hope that he reads my comments as constructive point of view - something else to put in the hopper as he builds his system.