Subwoofer is important IF you plan to use your system to watch DVD movies in the future, AND if you do not have the money to buy a decent pair of floorstanding speakers. Due to their size, bookshelf speakers ususually do not perform very well at lower frequencies(under 100Hz). If you can find a pair of JBL with 3 drivers(a tweeter, a midrange and a woofer), you probably do not need the subwoofer for now just for listening to music. Also, the kind of music you listen to matters. If you listen to basically classical music, JBL speakers would give you more laid back feeling while Psb or Energy speakers will reach out to you more( they are more defined at the highs). As for the prices, why don't you find out how much a pair of JBL N28 speakers cost and I will have a better idea to help you more???