I think that you should focus on what speakers you like before you choose a receiver. Some speakers will need more power than others. It would suck to do all this research on a receiver and buy one, then find that it doesn't work for the speakers you fall in love with.
Here is one of many choices for the speakers. This company will let you try them out at home for 30 days to see if you like them. Just about any receiver would be able to drive these.
http://www.av123.com/products_produc...s&product=14.1