I think painttoad has the right idea. I assume you are on a tight budget. Buying an integrated preamp/processor/amplifier/tuner is what people buy the most and has the best "bang for the buck", separates costing more. I would figure out what my budget is first and then purchase in this priority. 1st - Speakers (output) you will probably keep these longer than other components and they will make the biggest difference to you on the personal audio satisfaction. 2nd - DVD player (input) I think you're also going to want to play mp3's so look for that. 3rd - Receiver This is the heart of the system and needs to be capable of supporting the other parts of your system.

Most important: Make sure that everything is going to be able to connect together. You have to build the system "virtually" fist.