The 2500 is a great receiver, check with Yamaha and see if they will honor the warranty if you buy it at the exchange. I really don't have much experience with the mirage speakers. I seriously considered the 2500, and would have been very happy with it. However I went a pioneer elite receiver, and it is awesome.
At Elegantaudiovideo.com you could get a pioneer elite vsx-56txi, a pioneer elite dv-47ai DVD player, a pair of monitor audio gold reference 10 bookshelf speakers (beautiful rosewood finish) for $2673 not including shipping. If you are buying all 3 pieces from them, they may cut you a break.
The vsx-56 has firewire/i-link as does the 47ai dvd player. This would give you one cable hookup for SACD and DVD-a playback (instead of running 6 cables).
If I had $2500 and wanted to be done with the whole thing here is what I would do (Your Mileage May Vary!)
Pioneer Elite vsx-54tx $634 at elegantaudiovideo.com
axiom m22, vp150, qs8 =$1325 (believe you would get a slight discount for buying
all at once)
SVS pb10-isd $429 at svsubwoofers.com
Toshiba sd4960 $89 at vanns.com
Total $2477 not including shipping, or cables.
This would be an incredible system.
The m22s are tall bookshelf speakers (19") so make sure they fit. If your wife requires a speaker with a higher end appearance, you can get the axioms in real wood veneers for extra. If the m22's are too large, and elegant appearance is important, try av123.com and look at the elt home theater. You can get 5.1 (including sub) for $900. You can get a better sub, but the speakers are nice and look good.
If the m22s are too big and elegant appearance is not an issue, check out ascendacoustics.com. You can get 4 cbm bookshelfs, 1 cmt 340 center, an Hsu vtf2 sub, for roughly $1400 including shipping.
The last 2 sets of speakers, the elt, and the ascends, may sound better with the yamaha than the pioneer elite due to the use of soft dome tweeters. The axioms use a metal tweeter, so the pioneer may help to mellow, warm, or sweeten the sound.
HOpe that I have helped, and not mucked things up by presenting so many different options. At $2500 you can actually get a pretty good complete system, if you are impatient.