Home Theater Neophyte-Speaker Recommendations?

Well...after years of steadfastedly resisting the multi-channel anathema, I am ready to dip my toe in the waters. The primary end user of the system will be my wife, as I rarely watch television save the occassional movie. I want to end up with a "reasonable" system, w/o necessarily going to the lengths (or expense) of my 2 channel system. After doing a bit of research, lead contenders are the 40" Sony Wega direct view TV, the Pioneer Elite DV 37, and either one of the Pioneer Elite VSX series receivers (probably the VSX 36), a Denon or an Onkyo Integra receiver. I woulde certainly welcome suggestions for receivers under $ 1000 (used or eBay prices, not list). I would welcome even more any suggestions for HT speaker systems costing less than $ 1500 total (again, used or eBay pricing). Looking for a basic 5.1 set up right now. Many thanks in advance for youe suggestions.