Alesis active M1s - I'm tempted by these as well - the time has come, and I'm on that kind of budget.

I had a chat with a friend of mine who builds speakers as a hobby. We knocked up a plan for getting the best monitors at a budget:

Find a company that will allow you to test-drive the monitors before parting with your cash. Bring along CDs (preferably uncopied originals) of the kind of stuff you want to produce. Work out what frequency ranges are the most critical. (If you'll be doing vocals, 1-2k is pretty important. If you have trouble separating bass, look carefully at the 200-500Hz range).

Now listen away... While constantly flipping back to a set of monitors that's way out of your price range. (Make sure it's a good set, like HD1s or Dynaudio M1s or something).

This should throw up any problems the speakers might have.

Look at the crossover frequency in the specs. Examine that range carefully. This is where sound can become separated, and you can lose detail. (Think Twilo or Fabric sound system!)

1st order crossovers will have a wider crossover region than second or third.

Hope this helps!

:)

Tequila