Drumhead selection and tuning are the two most important contributing factors to the quality of should you will get from a drum.
That being said, the type of head you use, how you tune it and how you plan to muffle it (if at all) will depend upon the style of music you are going to play and the type of sound you want.
Personally, I have primarily played three (wide) genres of music: Jazz, soul/funk/fusion and hard rock/pop/top 40. For soul/funk/fusion, I like a muffled head with a deep, strong fundamental pitch. I typically tune my heads in the mid range, maybe a little high and use a lot of muffling. I love the under-the-head foam muffles that you mentioned for this purpose.
My jazz and rock sounds are really rather close to one another. For these styles, I use very little muffling. Usually just a plastic Remo "Zero Ring" on the drum (you can find these at most music stores). I also tune a little higher than I would for soul/funk/fusion. The combination of slightly higher tuning with little (to no) muffling really makes the drums sing. For rock music, I do the same thing but maybe tune the drums a little lower. I tend to hit harder in this style of music, which naturally chokes the sound a little bit (just don't overdo it!), so the drums don't resonate quite as much. This sounds like the type of sound that you're going for.
As for heads selection....Remo is good, but I prefer Evans, myself, at least for the toms. Try Evans Genera G2s on the batter side and G1s on the resonant side. The G2 is a double play head that has an unusual amount of tone and resonance for a head of that type. The key, though, is experimentation. It has taken me years to find the type of heads and tuning (and drum sizes) that I really like and I'm constantly evolving, trying to find a better sound...and you should be too!
Good luck, and happy drumming!