home theater for 3000

You may want to visit the Virtual Systems page under LEARN on the main menu to give you some ideas.
I would also suggest scanning previous posts under HT. You may find your answers already there for you!

If not, then you may need to post a little more information on needs/current setup before anyone will be able to respond with much detail. For example,
1.what is more important - 2 channel (since you listed their musical tastes) or multi channel (since your heading lists HT).
2.What kind of TV do they have (or do they need a TV, too)?
3.Do they need progressive scan on the DVD player?
4.Will they want the flexibility to upgrade or is this a one shot deal? (Receiver vs amp-preamp question)
5.Is there any WAF (wife acceptance factor) to consider?
6.The size of room could be a factor.
7.Will they need a rack as well?
8.How about cabling?

Yeah, it gets crazy soon enough. If you know and could provide a little more detail, you'll have a better chance of getting some recommendations that you could pass along right away.
Best of luck,
AJ

Sean was posting at same time. He made all the assumptions that I asked about GMTA ;~) and gave you some good advice. I'd take Sean shopping with me ANYTIME.

Start with the Outlaw receiver, which now costs just $499 direct. It performs better than many $1000 Japanese A/V recievers, and will allow you to spend the rest of your budget on better speakers, sub, etc...

Wow. That's good to know "E". I have not been in the receiver market, let alone HT receiver, for a LONG, LONG time. Out of curiousity, how much power per channel is that "baby" rated at and how many channels ??? Sean
>

65 w/pc with all channels driven -- pretty low for most receivers today (though Outlaw rates the power pretty conservatively). I'd be sure and get some pretty efficient speakers if you get your heart set on the Outlaw.