Hi everyone

So I'm in the market for some new computer speakers and I need all the advice I can get.

First, to give you an idea of what I'm after:

I'll be using the speakers for general computer use - a mix of music, TV and movies.
The speakers will be placed on my desk on either side of my monitor (24"). There is between 15 and 20 cm of space on each side. About the same amount of depth space is available.
I'm really only looking for a 2.0 setup. Music is much more important to me than movies and I don't have anywhere to place the other 4 speakers in a 5.1 setup.
Although I'm not a particularly active musician or producer, I do the odd bit of audio engineering (mixing). 
Everything I've read and everyone I've talked to so far suggests I should be looking for powered speakers.
My budget is roughly $1000. It would be great if I could spend less than that, but I'd much rather spend more (even significantly more) and get better quality than skimp and regret.
My budget doesn't extend to an AV receiver with traditional HT speakers (I may get one of them separately)... but I still want something powerful enough to fill a small room with sound for rocking out and movies (the term "bookshelf speakers" seems appropriate).
I want really good audio and build quality; something that will last me for 5 years minimum.

I've spoken to a few semi-pro musician and engineer friends and they have given me a few recommendations. Well, actually to be honest they gave more "negative" recommendations (ie. stay away from...) than "positive" recommendations. Basically anything with a plastic housing is apparently a no-no, and that covers almost all of the "traditional" computer speaker market (Logitech, Creative etc.). To be honest, I haven't seen one pair of traditional computer speakers that looks like it would be powerful enough for what I want anyway. HT brands like Bose and Wharefdale immediately bring negative connotations to mind - I've heard *many* bad things and would be reluctant to go down that route... but my mind is not closed. The low end "pro" audio brands like Behringer are almost certainly a "no" - again, heard *many* bad things.

The few suggestions I did get were:

KRK Rokit 5 ($600)
Alesis M1Active MKII ($1000)
Mackie MR5 MK2 ($1000)

The trouble with most of those is that they're almost verging on too big (physically). I was thinking more along the lines of:

Audioengine 2 ($200)
M-Audio AV-40 ($250)

I've read quite a few good reviews on both of those units, however the prices almost seem too good to be true. I have not yet had a chance to listen to either of them but I suspect that they are in a completely different [lower] league to the options mentioned above, purely because of size constraints. Maybe I need a bigger desk!

Two final points:
1. Auditioning
I can almost certainly rule out anything that I am not able to audition. Given that I live in the Manawatu (which is to say, there aren't the same number of shops as Auckland or Wellington), there aren't too many options for this. In fact I'm only aware of one shop: The Rockshop. Of course I can always check out options next time I'm in the big smoke, however that is quite infrequently at the moment. Any advice on this issue would *really* be appreciated.

2. Used
NZ seems to have a few online resellers (eg. soundstore, NZ sounds) with a reasonable range of the gear referred to as "high end" (eg. Adams, Genelec) on websites like gearslutz. However unless I've missed something, what we don't seem to have is any sizeable used/second-hand market other than Trade Me. Gearslutz in particular seem to often recommend that people in my position go for high quality used gear, but I'm at a loss for where I might go to find any of that in NZ. Again, any recommendations here would also be really appreciated.

So there it is. Thank you sincerely in advance for any advice you can offer!

mm