I haven't tried that out yet.
Volker Flenske: (While torturing David) I don't know why you're doing this to yourself!

What he said. Energy brand speakers regularly get high marks for value for money, although those might be in a higher price bracket. Watch out for deals on speakers; when Radio Shack inexplicably put their best-reviewed speaker on sale for 1/4 price, I visited every store around and grabbed 6 of them.
If you're handy with woodworking, consider building your own subwoofer. All you have to do is build a sealed box out of MDF, bolt a speaker in one side and an amplifier module in the other. Check out the subwoofer forum at diyaudio.com as a start. You can get much more bass for your money that way.

For the $800 or so you would spend on a HTIB, I would get a nice Pioneer AVR, (around 300), klipsch quintet IIIs 5 speaker system(500 but you can find a deal)and add a nice sub for 300-500 (get a demo at your local electronics store) and your sound will be much much better. The advantage of the HTIB is not having to mix and match, but even a 3.1 system will give you better sound than a HTIB and a lot of brands have speaker systems designed for home theater. Running wire is the worst part, and if that is done you are in the clear.