Hey there,

A rookie as far as audio setups are concerned, I am looking to take advantage of my Blu-ray player's audio capabilities, yet am unsure of where to start. What kind of receiver should I be looking for? Speakers? Please, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

MB

What BD player do you have? You need to match your player and receiver. There's a good explanation of high bit rate audio formats HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=957051). That's an HD-DVD thread. The concepts apply to both formats, though.

Also, what's your budget?

... take advantage of my Blu-ray player's audio capabilities, ...
That requires a "level 6" receiver in the taxonomy here. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8690911#post8690911) The example receivers mentioned are: "All HDMI Denons. Yamaha RX-V661/HTR-6060 and higher. Pioneer Elite 81TXV and higher. Onkyo 705 and higher. Integra *.8 series."