I received my receiver on tuesday, and I picked up my speakers on Monday. I tested my system out on The Who - Tommy SACD, and man does it sound great!!! The speakers are huge, but they sound great for what I paid, and I couldn't be happier. Thanks guys!
Thanks for the update. Glad you finally got things up and running. Even though there are better packages out there (for more $$$ of course) isn't it's amazing how good $200 can sound?
Glad you like the speaker setup you got, that's the important thing. As a general rule, however, for low and mid-level equipment you should spend more (like 2 or 3 times more) on speakers than on the receiver. (audiophile components are another story).
THe reason for this is that it is relatively easy to electronically manipulate digital data and amplify the signals. The hard part is converting electricity to sound waves, and doing it accurately. Therefore, speakers are the critical component of any system, and you should budget accordingly.
Is price directly tied to quality and accuracy? Not always (e.g. Bose), but much of the time it is. And sometimes you may like the way a less expensive speaker sounds, so there is no point spending more.
Anyway, that's a general rule, and sometimes you simply have to work within a budget and get what you can afford, which is what you did. When you can afford to upgrade, you can apply this ... In the meantime, enjoy the system!
If people only want to spend around $200 on the speakers (I'm in this boat - I'm willing to spend ~$200 on speakers and another $100 on a sub), it's tough to get a reciever that's capable of the things we want for 1/2 the cost of the speakers. If you have a 6.1 setup, you need a 6.1 reciever and a lot of inputs, etc. which are hard to find good recievers for cheap. That rule may apply for more expensive setups, but it's tough to do for an entry level speaker setup.
I went the complete opposite route. I got a receiver that i will keep for a long time and is most anything i would need and have my speakers be upgradeable but i am seriuously fine with these they sound a lot better than you prolly think they do.