Reddit mentions of Pioneer SP-BS41-LR 130 Watt RMS 2-Way Speakers (Pair) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

For greatest quality, start with a stereo setup powered by a 5.1+ receiver, and just add a center channel and 2 rear channels.

Your best bet would probably be to find a fairly recent name-brand surround receiver used, such as on Craigslist. Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo... all decent. They'll do.

Then look for the best front channel speakers you can find. First, try to find a used pair, even a vintage set, for $100-$150 max. Look up "good vintage speaker brands" and do some research, then hit craigslist. Look for anything from ADS or KEF or Acoustic Research.

If you don't want to go used or vintage, there are a lot of great bookshelf speakers priced at about $200/pair that will beat the socks off of any speakers in your OP. Check out Paradigm Atoms, PSB Alpha B1's, Monitor Audio BR-2's, and believe it or not these new Pioneer SP-BS41's. With speakers such as this a subwoofer should not be very necessary.

After that, just pick up pretty much any small rear channel speakers, and a center channel that seems to match the fronts acoustically (or even the same brand).

If you're not into doing that much work or possibly overstepping your budget, get the Yamaha set (best reviews, and I really like the amps/interface of Yamaha HTR's) and try to upgrade the 2 front channel speakers ASAP with one of the recommendations above. You know, if you're not happy with it out of box :) All up to you of course, but that would be your first upgrade.

Good new turntables under $100? Doesn't exist. You should instead get a used one from eBay, Craigslist, a thrift or pawn shop. I recommend a Technics SL table.

Speakers: I recommend these.

Get a pair of bookshelf speakers and a powered subwoofer.

Pioneer SP-BS41-LR
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-BS41-LR-Watt-2-Way-Speakers/dp/B0045US6DE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344833156&sr=8-1&keywords=pioneer+sp-bs41

Pioneer SW-8
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SW-8-Watt-Subwoofer-System/dp/B004MF2ZG6/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_c

And you may need speaker stands. I have a pair of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Sanus-Systems-Natural-Foundations-Black/dp/B00005USAY/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1344833222&sr=8-13&keywords=sanus+speaker+stands

Should be more than enough to get you started, assuming you have a receiver already. I have just the bookshelf speakers, and while I find the bass perfect for rock, I'd recommend the powered subwoofer for house.

Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon - $399.00. I don't like the cartridge options on this one so if it were me I'd get the cheapest cartridge option, sell the cheap bundled cart, and buy a new one. The table itself gets really positive reviews though, everyone was pretty stunned when this came out for this price. Carbon fiber tonearms used to be mostly attached to $2000+ tables.

Amp: While it's tempting to recommend vintage gear here, it cost me a nice chunk of time, money, and research to get my all-vintage rig up and running, and there are very nice modern options that will match the modern table better and sound incredible, all with no hassle.

I like the Marantz PM5004 - $449.00. Great brand, great specs, and a built-in phono pre-amp. You can always get a better pre-amp if you want to upgrade to a low output, high end Moving Coil cartridge in the future, but this will sound great and you may feel no need to ever upgrade.

Cartridge: I've heard a handful of $200.00 and below cartridges in my time and this $69.00 cartridge is my favorite so far - Shure m97xe. It's cheap and sounds incredible. It gets brought up a lot, but it's wildly popular for a reason.

That leaves $83 for speakers and wires. You can go a bit low here and get these nice Dayton 6.5 inch bookshelfs for around $30.00, or spend a bit more than your budget and get the $149.00 Pioneer SP-BS41-LR in this price range. They were designed by famed speaker designer Andrew Jones and get great reviews.

which of these three speakers would you recommend? I plan on getting a turntable and receiver to hook them up to, and they'd for now be used just in my bedroom and eventually possibly in a smaller apartment living room or such. this will be my first setup, so I want to make sure I get something that will give me good sound and last for awhile before I can upgrade down the road. the options that I've found to seem like the best are:

pioneer bs-22. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008NCD2LG/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1395946696&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40

pioneer bs-41.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0045US6DE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1395946696&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40

klipsch kb-15.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00AS3X740/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1395947740&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40

if you think there is a better option besides these three let me know, and id there is a better place to ask this question please direct me there!

Some audio products are timeless, and if you build modular (avoid all in one) you can keep them current to whatever connection technology is in vogue by swapping a transmitter.

A cheap example: Bookshelf speakers , cheap amplifier, bluetooth receiver.

Aside from the speakers, I haven't done too much research on the components. I'm trying to illustrate the example. By buying modular, you're able to upgrade, keep up with new technologies, etc. All this without throwing away an entire all-in-one system and having far superior quality in the process.

If you're looking to upgrade on the cheap, I'd recommend either of the Pioneer bookshelf speakers designed by Andrew Jones (the 80 watt version; the 130 watt version) or the floorstanding version of that line. I have the floorstanding version, and I must say that the sound is fantastic for around $200.

I just picked these up and they are absolutely fantastic. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a mid-range set up, not cheap by any means but they wont break the bank either

For $150, you'll be better off without a sub. Pioneer SP-BS41-LR. Stereophile review

I'm confused, but I want to help. First, if it isn't already known, optical connections can support DD 5.1. Second, Ditch the speakers and get something, anything else (except a soundbar). For the money, it's very hard to fault the Pioneer BS41 (designed by the famous Andrew Jones, who normally designs $20,000 speakers but was tasked to bring penthouse sound to basement pricing):

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-BS41-LR-Watt-2-Way-Speakers/dp/B0045US6DE

Try used on eBay for an exceptional deal and piece together a nice surround setup for cheap.