Fated:

Whatever your budget, spend at least half, if not 2/3, on the speakers, and the remainder on the receiver. The best speakers come from brands you've probably never heard of... Paradigm, B&W, and Definitive Technology are three excellent entry-level-audiophile brands... you can probably find at least one of them for sale at any decent audio shop (only *maybe* at Best Buy or Circuit City, and definitely *not* Target, Sears, or WalMart). Next choice would be a top-end mass-produced brand like JBL or Klipcsh or Boston Acoustics.

Do NOT under any circumstances buy BOSE. It is over-marketed, over-hyped, way-over-priced, mediocre stuff. Same goes for Monster Cable: over priced; you're paying for marketing and packaging.
--Gary