Another vote here for Alienbees. Since they are in the middle of launching their new AB Max line, you may be able to pick up a Classic AB on eBay for a better price than usual.

One thing to be aware of on the background stand, some have telescoping crossbars and some are built in segments. The telescoping stands (like the Savage Port-a-stand and the Photoflex first studio) are totally flexible on crossbar width, the ones built in segments have 3 or 4 set widths.

I prefer Photoflex softboxes to AB stuff (easier to tear down/put together), and Bogen lightstands (more solid construction) to the AB stuff.