Whatever you get, just make sure its ** LOUD **. Everything else is incidental.
Whatever you do, do not go with Bose. I have yet to hear a set of speakers from Bose that sounds halfway decent. They are overpriced and their rep based on and sustained by pure marketing muscle.
I recently spent a total of about 12 hours in various audio stores, playing various music on all the different equipment and speakers. Here is what I have concluded:
The brand of the CD player is completely irrelevant to sound. Look for the features you want. I bought a 300 CD Pioneer changer, it is perfect for my needs.
A $2,000 amp actually does sound very noticeably better than a $300 receiver. You have to find your sweet spot – a balance between price and quality.
As someone mentioned above, speakers make all the difference. Do not skimp out here. After listening to dozens of different brands and models, I ended up buying Klipsch Legend KLF-20s. I ended up spending more than I had intended, but once I heard the crystal clear, unbelievably accurate sound of these speakers I knew that nothing else would do. Thank God the stores I visited did not carry the Klipsch Heritage series, or I would probably be $5k poorer 
Incidentally, although nothing came close to the amazing sound of these speakers, a pair of Acoustic Research speakers which were even more expensive came the closest, while Bose and Polk Audio sounded the worst.
With anything above mediocre speakers, a subwoofer is unnecessary for music reproduction, only for home theatre.
Lastly, do not spend a fortune on cables. I recall reading an article in an audiophile magazine that conducted signal distortion research on various cables, and the conclusion was that virtually any cable of reasonable thickness sounds absolutely identical to the most expensive gold cables.
I believe that both Klipsh and Acoustic Research were early innovators in speaker designs. Klipsh on the horns and Acoustic Research on acoustic suspension speakers. It seems that Klipsh has a pretty good grasp of ducted port speakers though since more than one person I know of likes the Legend series.
http://www.martinlogan.com/main.htm
If you really want to go top of the line, try these speakers…they are absolutly unbelievable…in quality, and price. These are my dream speakers…when I win the lottery, this is first on my list of things to get. I also like the fact that they don’t look like regular speakers…very dramatic.
I haven’t lost my mind, I have a tape backup around somewhere.
try to incorprate sont’s s-link system.
it’s a 100% digital transfer=no noise and a verry hi-fi sound that make audiophiles soil their pants, Don’t ask. and the setup is easy.
I don’t care if you chose sony or dolby, but can I come over when you get hooked-up with every thing?
sont’s = sony’s.
my bad.