Help please

[fandango]

I really need help picking a sensible receiver & speakers.

i am slowly building what i hope to be a decent home system - I will be using it primarily for surround sound movies watching

I own a pioneer elite dvd player (DV59 Avi) and a 42" HD TV

I need a receiver and new surround sound speakers.

First the speakers:
I have the wife factor and my living room is not that big, so I want small wall-mountable speakers that deliver - the only ones i have read decent things about (especially for movies) are the Orb audio Mod2 package speakers . I would get the 7.1 option speaker option. I might also get a seperate sub, although i must admot i was very impressed with the Orb Super 8...
Any warnings on the orbs, or alternative recommendations - bare in mind that the rear speakers have to be wall mounatable and non-obtrusive - I also don't want to make the mistake of getting great powerful front speakers that completely overpower the back speakers - this is for movie watching - the surround speakers are very important!

The receiver:
I want full i-pod integration, (access ipod music with my remote control)
My DVD player already has signal upconverting, but i also want it in my receiver for my cable TV and for the best possible picture.
I want a really good automatic speaker calibration feature - to make setting up my 7.1 channel orb speakers a breeze. (like the pioneer advanced MCACC?)
HDMI switching would be good to have.
I also want the receiver to be able to handle future blue-ray and HD dvd capabilities
- basically the best receiver for movie surround sound.

i have between 1-2K for each product (receiver & speakers) idealy spending not much over 3K for both the speakers and the receiver


I would Love to get some recomendations or advice from someone knowledgeable.

Thank you very much.

P.S. from reading on this forum i have come across HDMI 1.3. how much longer until this become available in receivers (i hear the PS3 already has it?)
will it be massive price jump for 1.3 capable speakers?
is oit really worth waiting for for my purposes (for movie surround sound) or is it more for extreem audiophiles? thanks!!!

 

[dvc dude]

I would recommend that you check out Hsu speakers such as this setup. http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/enthusiast3.html They are horn loaded and get great reviews. You can probably find a Yamaha RX-V2700 on eBay for around $1100-1200. It should have everything you are asking for and stay within your budget.

As for HDMI 1.3 it will benefit movies once the format war has ended and we can decide which HD format to purchase. IMO it will bump the pricing at first generation equipment, but will come back down in about a year after release.

Just my suggestions.

 

[jcPanny]

Axiom

Check out the Axiom On-wall speakers. They should be a good performance and asthetics compromise. Their QS8s would be great for surrounds and they hang on the wall.
http://www.axiomaudio.com/wallspeakers.html

Check out HSU and SVS for a good sub and Yamaha, Denon, and Pioneer for the receiver.

 

[fandango]

Thank you

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

I now need to try and listen to the speakers from Orb, HSU & Axiom to make my decision.

It is great to have some alternatives to Orb to help me make a decisions.


thanks again everyone,