Complete noob beating the dead horse

I would spend $550.00 on a name brand AVR, and $1ooo.o0 or more on five speakers. Later, you could purchase an entry level Blu-Ray, and start looking for a good sub.

these speakers are worth a look http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/...28,71,705.aspx

I would say the Yamaha RX-v663 for around $400
SVS PB12-NSD in black $569
2x Infinity Primus P252 $300
Infinity Primus PC250 Center $149
2x Infinity Primus P162 $170
Sanus NF24 Speaker Stand (Cherry finish) $89.99
Sony PS3 Slim $299, easy upgrades, good player, good price

Puts you a bit over budget, bust consider it a good start, I went that way because the Sub, Receiver, and PS3 are pretty good stuff, the speakers you could always upgrade later if you need to.

You can open a sony card and save $100 on that PS3....just a thought

The Aperions are good speakers but its over OP's budget. LOL....and he still needs Bluray player and a receiver.

I say look into a HK 254 receiver at Harman Audio/ebay, PS3 with Credit Card and look for some Infinity Beta bookshelves, center, and top it off with a BIC subwoofer along with monoprice wires and cords.

I would not sink $500 into a BD Player with a $1500 budget and everything else you need. That is dumb. Also you should be spending way more on speakers than an AVR.

606 is good $400
Find a BD player for $200. They are out there. Do you need the Oppo?
That leaves $900 for speakers and if you could snag an AVR for $300 which are out there and should work for you thats another $100 to put towards speakers.

You should be able to find a decent sub for $300 - $400...much better than what would have been in that Energy System.

Surrounds? If you are running 5.1 which I assume, snag anything at this point for year rears. Spend $30-$50. That leaves about $500 for your front LCR. Lots of decent choices here.

This will be a much more substantial system than what you had planned.

Get a Harmon from their refurb store on ebay (full factory warranty) for around $200 and the PS3 for $299. This leaves plenty of cash for speakers.

Just my 2 cents

You can get the Onkyo 607 for $340-350, just name your price at 6ave.com. Someone posted that on Sunday. The onkyo 606 from ac4less would cost you at least $320 with shipping and its refurbished. The 607 is new with 2 year warranty.

If you want a ps3, the new slimline is $299. that leaves you $850 for speakers and sub. If you don't do gaming just get the Panasonic Blu Ray BD60 for $180 or less and you'll save even more. With $850-970 for speakers and sub you should have no problem putting together a nice setup.

check out a set of nht's from audioadvisor--any will be great with your setup.

Here's a link to AudioAdvisor's NHT page:

http://www.audioadvisor.com/products...&view_all=true

The problem is, NHTs will put you over budget. The cheapest NHTs you'll find are the Absolute Zeros at $800 for a center channel and four speakers, but then you'd still need a sub and AVR+blue ray. The NHT Classic 10 sub is at least $400 if you wanted to keep it in the family. The Verve system from NHT is on half-price closeout at $999 with a sub. I've never heard them but they were pretty well-reviewed at $2000 as I recall. NHT's website has links to all their authorized online retailers.