[quote name='MuzykMann']While I don't necessarily love Sony receivers, I think donut has the right attitude. Don't let the purists convince you that anything under their "preferred" setup isn't worth it. Audiophiles love to crap all over the midrange stuff, when to most of us they sound great. Stick to your price range and you'll find something that sounds good to your ears. Don't get wrapped up in the numbers game with people who spent thousands on their setups. It's a losing battle, as there is always someone who's gonna tell you "yeah, but for a LITTLE MORE MONEY you could blah blah..."[/QUOTE]
Exactly. Can't wait for some assclown to come in here saying "well, I know you're looking at spening around $500, but really if you're not spending
AT LEAST $100,000...no not for the entire system but PER SPEAKER, then your system is shit." (meanwhile they personally use some Panasony, Coby, or other knockoff $99 HTIB they got at Radio Shack/Walmart/Walgreens/Big Lots).
BTW my receiver is one of a kind, made of 100% pure platinum, palladium, and unobtainium...each individual piece was smelted and handcrafted by dwarves living in the Bavarian Alps...the speaker wire is made of an unknown alloy made from the hull of a UFO that crashed, and the speakers are solid gold. It cost me one BEEEEEEEEEEEELLION dollars, and that was in 1982 moneyz.
Anyway OP, just go to an AV store or even Best Buy/Fry's, somewhere with a speaker/receiver testing room or area, and find some brands of speakers and receivers
that sound good to you. That's the most important thing. Then shop around, and probably order from amazon since they have such tasty prices and discounts.
Personally, if I was shopping for a new system right now, I'd definitely take a long look at addicted2games and monoxide101 recommendations...especially on the Onkyo receiver. $600-1,000 for a great sounding setup is a sweet deal.