monitors: i recommend the mackie hr 824 or the smaller brother 624. powerfull through the whole bandwith of frequencies, the only ones that go down until 37 hz (yes you can hear that).
the mackie are a perfect match between semi pro and studio reference. the price (in usa you should get for 400 -500 each) and quality is awsome. in our studio we had active dinaudio, nearly undestroyable but to expensive for me alone.
others like m-audio, esi, yamaha, fostex cannot really compare. though i still use the esi nearfield 05 for comparing. the living room is running with two 6n6 bridged stereo blocks to adjust the mix finally.
try and listen to the mackie - i think you will be not disappointed.