Dave helps people design speakers, or point peoplein the direction to DIY speaker building. He helped me design my subwoofers for example.

For a TV, that is a tough price range. You can't quite get an HDTV, yet some find the quality of tubes not much better than $800 TV's. Are you interested in HDTV or progressive scan? How long do you wnat this TV to last? Do you prefer tube over projection? FWIW, my brothers and sisters bought my dad a Sony 36" Wega in that price range for a retirement gift and I think it looks great. However, I'd say up another $500 and find a closeout 53-60" widescreen HDTV personally. My best advice is to check them out at local store. They usually feed the same signal which isn't the best quality, but only your eyes can judge which is best. Oh, there is an RCA 38" widescreen tube TV with built in HDTV decoder for about $1800 or so that I hear is top notch.

Hmm, I'm about 2 model years out of the loop on DVD players. I have a Sony. I usually recommend Toshiba, but Pioneer had the best values about a year ago. Check the sites below, but progressive scan with 3:2 pull down I think can be had for under $200.

Some sites to get you started include:
www.hometheaterforum.com
www.hometheatertalk.com
www.avsforums.com

You'll need a receiver and speakers next, but as you say another time. When you get there or are ready to discuss, bring it on. I went through 2 Sony receviers before really doing my homework and buying a Denon which I absolutely love. Speakers, I recommend building your own or at least getting one of the kits to get you started. Hopefully you are up for the work.

Aaron