In article .com,
"JMH" wrote:

Any insight on such situations would be most appreciated. I want bang
for the buck, but given that I will use my sstem 85% for music and only
15% for everything else... I want to make sure that I make the right
choice. The AVR gives me long term upgradability if I want to do the
home theatre thing... but is only a good deal if it can do hi-fi for
newbies half decently...

What do you think?

The Infinities look like a good choice, if the reviews are anything to
go by.

My preference is stereo. In addition to the Yamaha, you might look at
integrated amps (NAD, Marantz, Rotel) in approximately the same price
range. You could do NAD BEE series cd and integrated for less than what
you are paying for the speakers.

Don't sweat over where the DAC is!

Stephen