Theater or Stereo?
Kush, i guess I am assuming that you are wanting a 5.1 system, possibly 7.1 or are we looking at stereo sound? Assuming you are looking at a 5.1 sys, Yamaha makes some good receivers in the Aventage line that start around $500, and assuming your not going to run 2+ zones this could be a great option. That would leave you about 2G for speakers, which is very realistic. I'm personally a big Paradigm fan (not the views of everyone one here, nor am I speaking for the site) and they have some great sounding speakers in that range. Let me know your desired setup and i'll go on.