Decent Speakers for PC and Tv

a few questions..

what size speakers do you need/want?
-satelites (good for small rooms, lack bass impact, are easy to hide and small)
-bookshelves (good for medium rooms, more bass impact, not so easy to hide but well rounded)
-floorstanders (good for medium or large rooms, significant bass impact, very large and conspicuous but powerfull)
-subwoofer (required for bass impact on satelite systems, optional on bookshelf or floorstander systems but does add more low end)

will you have more than one source?
-will you just be using the computer or will you need to add lets say a video game system, mp3 player, internet radio or other such alternate source to them?
-if yes do you need them to be hooked up at the same time or is swapping cables okay?

digital or analog sources?
-how will you be connecting? via hdmi, optical or 3.5mm?
-do you have a pc soundcard? list it
-do you have a video card? list it
-is using hdmi through a receiver to your tv or monitors okay with you or would you prefer not?

distance from pc?
-at a desk or do you sit back on a couch or chair?

---

generally a receiver is good if you have multiple sources and want to swap between them. they might not have the absolute best in class DAC or amps but generally good enough. receivers are also fairly priced and will run less than seperates.

if you already have a good soundcard to act as a DAC then you can use just an amplifier. this means more money put into speakers.

if you do not then you can get an external dac and also an amplifier to power speakers. however, between an amp and dac this could eat up half of your budget easy.

---

i personally use a receiver in my own setup (link on top right in my sig) which is a 5.1 satelite system using klispch speakers and a pioneer receiver. i use multiple input devices which makes it very convenient for me.

i would hold off on purchasing the soundcard... unless of course you are wanting to buy headphones as well (in which case you need to add that information here). if you went with a receiver you might not need to get a soundcard.

is your tv the main display for the pc? if so would it be an option to have bigger speakers up next to it instead of on your desk? or is your preference to *definitely* have the speakers on the desk?

a receiver would be pretty convenient for connecting up multiple other inputs like laptops/game devices. what model HK receiver? it may not be a good idea to use older tech in some cases (it should definitely have hdmi and/or optical and support the newest audio formats) however if you list it we can give you an idea whether its worthwhile or not.

what room dimensions?

also you did not mention what speaker size you liked.

do you plan on adding more speakers in the future?

what are your thoughts on going with a 3.0 or 3.1 instead (since the center channel handles quite a bit of vocals/dialog and may be of benefit perhaps. its optional but worth a thought.

what stores can you buy from which ship to canada for audio equipment? can you use amazon usa for example?

http/www.microlab.cn/product_detail.asp?id=281&bigclassid=15&smallclassid=72 these have been getting rave reviews around the net.