well ILL tell you what I did to get a nice sounding HT system I bought a THX certified Receiver ran everything from a SACD DVD player to the receiver then back out to a PAS 3 then to a Dynaco ST 70 for the front then I ran the muti and the rear out to AN Ecio ST 70 I can use the reciever to switch back and forth between what I want to listen to oh I forgot to say front channels are klipsch lascala and rear are also with the sides being a klipsch speaker made for surround as the other guy said you need to have a plan consider the size of your room ,speaker placment and so on but I will say this for the best sound go for the tube sound it is much better than solid state and in your case I would start with a THX with pre-ins and pre-outs you might look at a onkyo TX DS797 if you can find one I think they go for around 2500 now thats what I use I think it won some award for being one of the best THX receivers hope this helps IM new at this so forgive me for just going on and on