Price vs. value point

Good places to start are the mid priced used AV recievers and DVD players from Denon, Marantz and NAD. Buy from someone who has alot of good feedback. Call them up on the phone and if you get a good feeling from them, go for it. Speakers are little more difficult in that you need to match you room size, decor etc.. You are doing the right thing in asking questions. Good luck.

If you're going with the Orbs, anything more than a nice receiver is a waste of your money.

Yo Martinman,
Start hanging out with Elizabeth. She makes the rest of us supershoppers look like rank amatuers. I started out the same way about 12 years ago. I didn't have much money to spend and shopped for sales until I found a 30% or 40% off deal. I put together a Yamaha AVR/Pioneer LD/Pioneer TV system that was ok at first but started having problems with one of the channels in the receiver and had to have it repaired. Eventually I replaced it with much better stuff and you will probably do something very similar.
I would offer three pieces of advice...
Find a dealer who you can form a long term relationship with. The guys I deal with have been friends for years and I get real good deals on the stuff that I buy. I also get to try out very expensive equipment at my house.
Two, start with a good baseline. If you get a set of cheap speakers and start trying to evaluate other equipment thru your cheap speakers, you won't be able to tell much about the sound quality of an amp or DVD player.
Lastly, learn about the basics of Home Theater. There is much more to it than picking out a DVD, an A/V receiver, and some speakers. Read the magazines and books on home theater and try to visit some installations in model homes or friends homes. Carry DVD's of several favorite movies and ask to play clips. You'll find that people love to show off their home theaters or a/v rigs and you'll get to see and hear a lot of so-so systems.
Shopping in the Audio Advisor and asking quesions on the 'gon is not going to replace going out and seeing/hearing the stuff.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I've been doing a bunch of reading over the past months. I'm really moving on to my 2nd system. The first (i.e. the one I still have) was put together with mismatched components. Consequently, I have issues to say the least - it's my center channel. Anyway, long story short - it's been 10 years, I have the cash, and want to make wise choices. Starting with a martinez, nad, outlaw receiver is definetly within my price range. This will be strictly for HT - I have a bottlehead kit that I'm putting together for 2 channel use.