A friend of mine is totally new to stereos and needs some help

800 bucks = 2.1 imho

He could re-cycle the existing speakers as surrounds, and purchase new speakers and build up to 5.1 from there; might even be content with the existing speakers as surrounds indefinitely.

No idea what your space requirements are, so have a look at bookshelf and tower speakers from Energy, Yamaha, Klipsch, Mirage, Polk, etc - when you find something that looks like it will fit; then build from there (doesn't mean you have to buy that product).

Receiver-wise, Pioneer's new VSX-521 looks nice, Sherwood's RD-7502 is my general stand-by for suggestions (it's really just quite versatile), would also look at Yamaha and Sony. You'll be hard pressed to find a phono pre-amp on an entry level unit, but you can probably add a preamp for not too much (unless the turntable has a preamp built-in).

Why would you need a preamp if you have an avr?

Many turntables cannot be connected to line-level inputs, you need a phono pre-amplifier to sit between the line-level input and the turntable. Newer turntables will integrate this, but older models do not. Your average AVR in 2011 has no idea what a phono input is, and probably doesn't even have a common-point ground; you want that little box to sit between it and the line-level inputs on said AVR, or the sound from your turntable will be crap due to the mismatch. Here's a much more in-depth article that explains what I just said in ~5 pages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization

Now go back and re-read my post; I specifically said "phono pre-amp" - it's amazing what happens when you don't just pick jargon words out of the block and comment on them .

Whoa, no need to get all defensive bro. I asked the question in honest ignorance and curiosity.

Not defense, just being sarcastic .

No harm in questions; ask away.

Might I also suggest Jamo speakers.....they typically have a very good bang for the buck.

There is a full 5.0 set at vanns for a decent price: http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...speaker-system

Sure why not, lets throw Athena in and we'll complete the Klipsch Audio Technologies tour .

The Onkyo home-theaters-in-a-box aren't bad at all.