Looking for cheap home theater speakers

Many of you are really in-tune to this kind of thing and these days I'm so far out of the loop it's not even funny. Here's what my general wish list is: a) Good quality. I have a decent hifi setup and while this doesn't have to rival a great system I would like competent musical performance. This will be for a main TV watching area in the den where I will also want to listen to music. b) Doesn't need killer bass. It should have a sub but it doesn't have to be an 18" thunderbox to alleviate those constipated days. c) Small, preferably identical satellites. I'd do in-walls if I could but as I have plaster interior walls and budget constraints they are not an option. But I want small, preferably tiny, and unobtrusive speakers. I also have an upcoming event where it would be nice to rig a bunch of small satellites in a tent and if these could double up for that duty it would be awesome. I'm even tempted to try Bose because this is a pretty desired constraint. d) Cheap. If I could do this for $500 and get something decent, I would. Will go to $700-800 if necessary. e) Home theater is not a huge deal for me. I'm not all that picky so I prefer good musical performance over huge cinema impact - I would probably even go 2.1 if I didn't specifically need these other speakers for my "event." Hence my willingness to settle for a phantom setup if that's what it comes to. I've turned up a few options that look decent given some reviews and my knowledge of the brands: Paradigm Cinema 70CT NHT SuperZero 5.1 but I'm not sure where else to look. I would also consider buying 2 pairs of small mini-monitors (plus a separate sub) and running in "phantom" center mode, if that still exists. Any thoughts? Thanks to all for any advice.

Thanks for the help, guys - but to re-iterate - I am definitely looking to purchase 4+ minimonitors because of the coincidental need for a number of speakers for an event I will be hosting later this fall. The way I see it, I have to buy speakers for that purpose anyways, so if I can get something useful that I can turn into a HT setup or maybe even 2 different 2.1 systems at some later point in time that's the bonus. So 5.1 speaker systems in a box that might have some economies built in are sort of my frontrunners to begin with. Appreciate any recommendations in that vein. Thanks.

I'm close to pulling the trigger on the NHTs, although I'd love to audition them first somewhere. The event is my wedding, and they will be needed to play background music in a tent during dinner. Volume is not particularly important, nor for that matter is sound quality all that critical. I just need a few small speakers to scatter through to play some jazz or something so it's not dead silent in there and seems inviting. And I want to somehow rig them up in the tent overhead so that they're unobtrusive. I'll drive everything off an old pro-style PA amp I've sort of "inherited."