Myself, I'm a Yamaha guy, though admittedly I'm paying for a bunch of DSP programs that I could care less about. I'm just comfortable with their receivers since I've been using them for years. Honestly, at that price point you probably can't go wrong with Pioneer, Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon or HK.
As far as speakers go, I've been thrilled with these:
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PU...kers/SP-PK52FS
Absolutely fantastic speakers for the price, roughly $500. The sub is somewhat of an underperformer, but again, for the price it will do.