I have just mounted my Panasonic 42in Plasma over my Fireplace. Also just got Directv with HDDVR Nice!

My challenge is there is no room to place a center channel speaker. I have read about the phantom center channel. Also the fireplace wall is made of large stones. How is that going to impact sound.
Is there a specific av receiver that does the phantom better than others?
Would I benefit from Floorstanding speakers or would bookshelf still work?
Budget for the two speakers would need to be under $500. Ideally I would like two bookshelf speakers under $300, but without a center should I go for floorstanding?
Can't wait to buy the PS3MGS4 80GB bundle.... I am going to be broke.