Newby, smaller room, decent budget but absolutely no clue! (1 Viewer)

[Zuiperd]

I've got all but blisters on my fingers from roaming the web of what-is-good and what's-not. I need you guys's help, please!
Here's the situation. (Oh yeah, I live in Canada)
Required
Receiver
Speakers
Subwoofer
Blue-ray player
Used for
I will use it mainly for gaming (PS3) and movies.
Already owned and budget
1080P LCD TV
I've just bought a HTPC (still to be assembled) which I'll connect to a NAS.
I have max $2000 to spend.
The room is about 12.5' x 13'.
Speakers
I've been in some local stores, and in one the Mirage Nanosat 5.1 was recommended. I've been reading plenty of reviews about this set, which were mostly positive (except the woofer). I should be able to get that around $500 around here, excl the woofer. For some reason I just can't get over the small-speakers-cannot-be-good feeling. That particular store did not have them connected, so I couldn't listen to it. It appears to be big enough for the room I am in, as shelf speakers are big enough (correct me if I'm wrong!).
Do you have any advise or alternatives?
Receiver
In the same store there was also a Yamaha RX-A710 available for about $600.
This has the 7.1 capability, which seems too much for what I want. I also read in the forums here that Onkyo or Denon might be the better brands to go for?
Another option I have found was an Onkyo:
http://www.amazon.ca/Onkyo-TX-NR414-5-1-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B0077V88YU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341697265&sr=8-1
Subwoofer
As I move frequently, I also have to deal with different power (voltage). Therefore I do not believe a powered sub is the way to go. I currently live in a row-house, so the woofer doesn't have to be massive. Other than that, I have no idea.
Please, please can somebody point me in the right direction? I don't want to spend 2 G's now and do the same thing again in 2 years.... All the help is appreciated.

 

[gene c]

That's a smaller room so smaller speakers should work O.K. but they make the quality of the subwoofer even more important since it has to go higher up the frequency band than usual. But it's really important to try and listen to as many different speakers as you can to see how different they can sound from on another.
The Energy Take Classic and Boston Acoustics CS2310 are a couple of other smaller speaker systems I recommend from time to time but both of the subwoofers are powered and not as good as you can get elsewhere. The 5 speakers can be found by themselves if you look around.
Energy is/was a Canadian company and the S10.3 is a very good 10" model but I'm not sure if Newegg ships to Canada http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882269026
Newegg also has great prices on Pioneer, Martin Logan and Polk Monitor speakers. But again, do they ship up north?
There's really no reason to spend more than $400-$500 on the receiver unless a more expensive model has a feature or two you just can't live without. Something like the Denon 1612 or Yamaha 473 is probably enough for you and leaves more money for the speakers and subwoofer. The receiver market is highly competative right now keeping prices low and features abundant.
Personnaly, I'd look for smaller bookshelves like Energy RC-10's or Infinity Primus etc with a matching center and a decent 10" subwoofer. But with a $2000 budget you should be able to get better speakers. Maybe Paradigm or Definitive Technolgy Pro Cinema 1000's? So think $400-$500 for the receiver, $200-$300 for the sub, $150 for a BluRay player and the rest for the most important part - speakers. Speakers don't become obsolete like receivers and source components can so spend your money on them. But find ones you like to listen to. You make not like the ones I do.
Being in Canada makes it more difficult to recommend anything specific because I'm not sure what's available up there and who ships to there from here
I'm a little puzzled about the different power (voltage) you say you have to deal with. Wouldn't this cause the same problem with the receiver? Please elaborate a little more for us. A powered subwoofer is much better than a passive one.

 

[Zuiperd]

Receivers typically are easlily to convert the power input. In North America power is 110V 50Hz, while Europe has 220V 60Hz. I am planning to bring a power converter, but the more consumers I put on there, the heavier the converter is to be so I'd like to keep that to a minimum when there's choice.
Newegg.ca has its own site, but the coices there are limited. Funny detail: I did order some other parts from Newegg.ca however shipment occured for 2 different locations in the US.
The alternative is either ebay.ca or amazon.ca. Using the .coms result in high shipping costs.
I appreciate the feedback. It sounds good that I can spend a little more on speakers that will last. Will do some more searching. Still haven't ruled out the Mirage yet though...

 

[Zuiperd]

Update.
In a local store I have found a few receiver that I'll go and take a look at. I'm leaning towards the TX-nr509 or the TX-nr414, with a preference for the 509.
http://electroniquehifi.com/Products/tabid/128/CategoryID/139/List/1/catpagesize/0/Level/a/ProductID/320/language/en-CA/Default.aspx
This appears to have all that I need for a reasonable price.
In addition, I decided not to rule out the active woofers. I just found that a higher wattage power converter aren't that much more expensive, so why rule it out?
So my search continues....