Hsu makes very good speakers and subs, you can't go wrong with them. If I were going with Hsu, I would get the VTF2 at the very least though, there is a big step up in performance from their 10" subs to their 12" subs. There is a small discount on the VTF2 at the moment, so it will come in under $600 shipped. Hsus' speakers are relatively powerful for bookshelf speakers as well, they are terrific for both movies and music. Yamaha is a highly regarded brand, you can't go wrong with Yammies either. Other receivers brands that are worth looking at is Harman Kardon, Denon, Pioneer, Marantz, and, if you are feeling lucky, Onkyo. I would buy one based on the features that appeal to yo the most.
Here is a few tips that might help:
Do not buy cables at electronics stores! Subwoofer cables, HDMI, speaker cables, the markup on cables at stores are enormous.
Monoprice and
Blue-jeans are a couple of great places to get cables for a sane price. They are also a good place to get accessories like wall-jack plates, etc. You can get speaker cable at Home Depot, I would just get a roll of 14 AWG.
If you need a mount,
this Videosecu Side-Clamping mount is by far the best at anywhere near its price.
On whatever receiver you decide on, go through the manual! Seriously! It will help a lot. Go through the subwoofer manual as well.
Experiment with subwoofer placement, if you have the freedom for that. Placement makes a big difference on how the subwoofer will sound. You might try the subwoofer crawling method to find an optimal place. This is where you place your sub where your ears would normally be and your ears at places where you can place your sub and play some test tone sweeps like
this one or something from
this page. Don't be afraid to try near-field placement too, which is where the sub is very close to the listening position, like an endtable type placement, or also right behind the seat. Try as many different spots as you can and keep the sub where it sounds best to you.
One more thing, if this is a system that might end up being moved around a lot, you may want to get some banana plugs for the tips of the speaker cable.
