http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Onky...48967/catOid/-12954/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
I have that at home, I love it. Cost effective solution, comes with nice speakers (the fronts and center are nice, the rears and sides COULD use an upgrade though) and a nice midrange receiver that will let me upgrade to badass speakers when I feel like it.
As mofo1115 said above, the wattage rating is NOT a good indicator of quality. The 'good' brands (for midrange products.. onkyo, denon, harmon kardon) rate their products differently.
A $200 box system is typically rated at 1000 watts rates driving ONLY ONE small speaker, in some cases running just two channels.. not ALL availible channels. The Onkyo setup I linked rates running ALL channels at the same time.. Also, the better brands rate using 6 or 8 ohm speakers, while the crappy ones use smaller ones. - basically, you might not have enough power with a cheap receiver to drive those 4 foot tower speakers you want to get a few years from now.
If you were looking at spending about $500, I would go with what I linked.. I'ts THE BEST for the money. If you were looking at $1000 or more, I would get a $300-$500 Onkyo or Denon Receiver, infinity front, center, and rear channel speakers, and an infinity or Velodyne powered subwoofer.
If you know someone who works retail, and can order you a set of speakers via the retailer's employee purchase website, you should be able to save like 50%-60% on the speakers -- assuming retailers still DO that.. it's been like four or five years since I worked retail.