I think you should reconsider on the Plasma. Since you live at altitude, as do I, your new plasma TV will likely have a high-pitched whine when on, as well as a shorter lifespan.

LCD panels do not suffer from these issues.

Plasmas in general consume large amounts of electricity; I've heard as much as $1 per hour by some estimates.

If you are dead-set on owning a Plasma, try to find one that is designed for high altitude (rumored to exist, but I have yet to see one).

As far as Home Theater in general, a lot of folks are building Home Theater PC's to serve as their media center. No DVD player or anything, the whole system consists of a high-end TV, high end receiver, a digital cable box, and a PC in a cool case. The PC can even control the cable box as a slave over the firewire:

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/

As for speakers, there is no limit to how much you can spend. I have a set of polk RM6600's that cost about $1200 in 2000. They sound awesome hooked to a $200 Receiver. I also have a set of $229 JBL's downstairs hooked to a $300 Receiver that sound just as good:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

Frankly, I bought them just to prove to my wife that they wouldn't possibly sound as good as my Polk's. I was astonished at how much I like them, and am pretty smug about the price. I ended up keeping them and am quite happy with them. Basically, speakers are a matter of personal taste. My only advice is don't pay above your own taste.

If you are looking for a multi-DVD changer, there are a few 300 and 400 DVD changers on the market, some with serial ports that can hook to your PC for awesome control over the collection.

As far as Yamaha goes, their musical instruments are world famous. (Heck, their logo is three tuning forks!). I really like their electronics as well, but I'm sure you can find a few haters out there. I for one am extremely fussy about things like an easy to use remote and menus that make sense. I think I would be quite happy with the receiver you picked out.

Nate