For your price range I agree on going the active route. Never heard the KEF's but all the positive write ups speak for themselves and don't think you could go wrong with them. I would also definitely check out the Airpulse Model 1's I've owned these now for almost three months and have been meaning to do a review on them but I'm great at procrastinating. These are my first active speakers and I absolutely love them and can't imagining anything touching them in the $1000.00 range and then some, yeah, they're that good! They fill my 18x20' room easily and the bass is outstanding, just what you would expect from a Phil Jones design.
I may very well be the only one on the forum who own these and really can't find too many reviews to speak of but once work gets out about these I think that will change. They also come with a 60 day money back guarantee but trust me you won't be returning them