I listened to the 2000 paired with some PSB Image series speakers and the sound was surprisingly good. I had always heard that Sony receivers were very harsh and bright sounding (which the lower "non ES" models definately are), but paired with the warm PSB's, most of this brightness was tamed. I found that I enjoyed the music sound of the ES/PSB combo more than I did the movie sound...although the movie sound was very capable as well...just not as good as some others I have heard.
I recommend you check out this combo. For the money, PSB Image series speakers are very hard to beat. I would also check out Paradigm. Sonically, they are very similar to PSB and in my opinion would also sound very good with your new 2000ES.