ok, here's my two cents on the subject:

don't buy pioneer receiver, the quality is very sub-par, physically and sound quality.

next, as for speakers, i think your talking about Monitor Audio, they make great speakers, i've had a few people recommend them to me!

have you checked out Yamaha receivers? i'm sitting right next to one and its a great piece of work!

i've also seen some nice stuff from denon, check both out...