Well within your budget and offering all you might ask for is the Outlaw RR2150 Receiver. It is a factory direct on-line sale item from www.outlawaudio.com. Check out the review in the March 2006 Stereophile for all the details. Match it with Epos ELS3 Speakers available from www.audioadvisor.com among other places and you can fill your lounge with your favorite music. If my notion of current exchange rates is even close, you may have some cash left for more music. Good Luck, and Welcome to the forum.

The other night, I thought about mentioning the Outlaw receiver, but, wasn't 100% sure about recommending a speaker to go with it (although something in the Epos line did pop into my mind), so, I refrained from posting -- plus, I was getting sick of seeing my name so much on the main forum page. But, since my thoughts are in concert with Clay's, I thought chiming in might be worth something. The aforementioned Outlaw review can actually be found here.

I've only read about the Outlaw, but, have liked the Epos speakers that I've heard. There are some nice B&W monitors in your price range that seemed like good bargains.

I'd get a Cyrus integrated instead of a receiver. Solid engineering at an affordable entry price, JA favorably reviewed one not too long ago.

as far as I can remember Outlaw doesn't ship outside US. Maybe this has changed but I couldn't find a reference to worldwide shipping on outlawaudio.com - and if they aren't maybe you can check out NAD.

I feel NAD or Rotel is one of the best introductions anyone can have to audio - they are reasonably priced and sound great and have good resale value for when you want to upgrade (the 30-year old NAD 3020 still fetches a good price on eBay).

Do you already have source equipment (DVD or CD player?)