Wow, just now making the jump to Dolby Digital. I currently own a Denon 2801, but I used to own an Onkyo that I loved as well. I've always been scared of Yamaha due to their bright sound reputation, suspiciously cheap price tags, and all those useless DSP modes that takes music to a whole new level of unrealistic. Not to mension that Best Buy sells Yamaha....enough said. They may be ok, but I never took the chance. I recommend the Onkyo 604 and up. I don't know about the cheaper Denons. However, Onkyo will give more of everything at a same priced Denon. Sound Quality wise, I believe the Denon would win, but not by a lot. If you consider an Onkyo, DO NOT buy the 303 model. I know it's cheap, but there is definately a reason.

Speakers that would work well with Paradigms might be hard to find depending on how picky you are. I have Paradigm Monitor 9s, and I tried the Paradigm Cinema series speakers that have the same drivers as the Monitor series, but much different cabnets. The center and the rear speakers are exaclty the same speaker and they run about 125 a piece. The center has a built-in pivot assembly to point the speaker in the desired direction. The plastic cabinets make the speakers alittle cheaper sounding, but like I said, just matters how picky you are. If you are picky, the Monitor series center and mini monitors might be better for you, but alot more costly. If not Paradigms, I suggest the Athena AS-B2.2 for the rears and AS-C1.2 for the center. I found that Athena speakers have that nice smooth midrage like Paradigms have, and I think they would make the closest match. They are also much cheaper than Paradigms. Onlyo problem is I have no idea who sells them anymore, but you can probably find out on www. athenaspeakers.com.

As for TVs, I think all the plazma, lcd, dlp technology sucks due to either reliability issues or picture quality issues or both. SED technology is supposed to launch next year which is picture tube technology gone flat. LCD can't do blacks, DLP needs a 200 to 300 dollar bulb replacement about every 1000 to 2000 hours of use, Plazma's picture degrades in about 2 years, and they're all just way too expensive to have flaws like those. If you absolutely need HD right now, I recommend the Sony XBR 34 inch CRT. It's 1000 bucks and has a beautiful picture, and will last for many years to come. The downside is that it is 200 pounds and as deep as any Trinitron CRT. If you can deal with that, I would buy that set. If I had 1000 bucks, it would be mine right now. Anyway I hoped this has helped you alttile.