Hi there. This is another follow-up to my original post - http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=84&TopicId=25391 . I've pretty much finished upgrading my system and have bought a TV. I have 5 pretty decent speakers (Monitor audio) sitting around, and was planning on finally investing in a decent receiver to power them. At the moment, my current 15-years-old-plus pioneer receiver is definately not cutting it - to the point that I'd rather listen to the inbuilt speakers on my new TV than the hissing associated with my speakers (probably due to a combination of onboard, analogue audio, poor wiring, and old receiver - I'm pretty sure my speakers would sound great if supported better!).

This thread is pretty open-ended... Where would you advise that I go for a decent, cheap HDMI A/V receiver? I'd like to pass the HDMI signal out the back of my sapphire radeon 4870 into the receiver, and then from the receiver to my tv. I'll also require some cabling for my speakers (the ones I have are complete crap) and another HDMI cable (longer than 1 meter if possible). To top it off, a decent entry-level subwoofer might be nice.

Does anybody have advice regarding any of these purchases? Which brand is good for entry level equipment? Is entry-level gear worth it or would it be a complete waste of money? Would I notice a big difference using higher quality speaker/HDMI cabling, or is the cheapest good enough? Which store is generally best for this kind of stuff (I'm in christchurch)?

If I didn't give enough information for you to help me, just ask for more and I can take some photos of the back of my speakers or something : )

Cheers!