Just learning about home audio, need some advice?

Im listen to classical music and I've decided to get into home audio and have a few questions.

1) Book shelf vs floor speakers, is there a difference in quality or realism? Or just loudness/bigness of sound
2) If I only care about quality not number of speakers (7.1) or other options, is there a difference in A/V Receivers from basic models to $$$ ones
3)Whats the best way to send music from my comp to my stereo? (I have Creative XFi)
4) If you had $1300 to spend on 2 speakers, receiver and a sub, what would you buy?

I dont really understand the basics, and would appreciate any resources you know of, Thanks!

1) Size of speakers is not an accurate indicator of quality or loudness.

While in general small speakers won't give as full a sound as larger ones (low bass is missing), the midrange and highs can be among the best. Some would even argue that a subwoofer plus small to medium size speakers is as good or better than large floorstanding speakers.

The size of the speaker can be associated with(but is not a sure indicator of) the type of enclosure, with sealed enclosures being used for smaller (e.g. bookshelf) and ported enclosures for larger (e.g. floorstanding) speakers.

Size, shape, style, materials are all highly variable and more a question of personal preference and intended use than anything else.

See the first link for much more info.

2) Separate components (pre-amp, power amp, tuner vs an integrated receiver) tend to be associated with higher quality and higher price. For A/V receivers (which tend to be more performance / $ than separates) number of channels per se is not directly associated with quality. Some 7.1 models are junk, while some 5.1 models are very good. But as with everything else, price tends too indicate relative quality ... certainly within a single manufacturer's lineup.

That said, it's fairly easy and relatively inexpensive to get a moderately good amp ... it's more difficult (and expensive) to find good speakers.

For more info see link 2.

3) Basically, comp to A/V receiver for audio shouldn't be a problem. Depending on which Xfi you have there are various output options, but even the 3 x mini-stereo outputs allow input to an A/V receiver with 5.1 or 7.1 discrete analog inputs via stereo RCA to mini-stereo adapters and male-male RCA patch cables. If you have the model with the brakout box that has optival or digital coax connections which connect multichannel bitstream audio for a one-cable solution.

4) A rough "rule" for an audio system is to plan to spend about 40-50% of your budget on the speakers, 25-30% on the receiver and the rest on a sound source of some kind (e.g. DVD player), wiring and a surge prtector.

At $1300 you are not going to build a high end system with new equipment, but you can get something pretty good. Or you can consider higher end used equipment and probably get much better sound. That said, used speakers and better electronics age pretty well.

The highest audio quality music is available on DVD-A or SACD --- so you need to consider if you will be playing MP3/WMA, CDs or DVD-A/SACD. If the latter while you can listen in stereo they are optimal in surround sound ... so an early decision on stereo vs surround is required. That said, I's suggest sticking with CDs/stereo for now since it eliminates the need to buy a universal player and more expensive disks.

Depending whether you see this as an ongoing project or a one time purchase (For example, is a stereo receiver just OK for now (since you only talk about 2 speakers) or is it the end game?

I highly recommend the used equipment approch -- find a quality stereo amp for $200-$300 or less, and good used speakers -- probably $250-$800/pr.

On the other hand (since you have a computer as a source) you could go with a really good A/V receiver and used speakers.
For example the Onkyo 605 is killer A/V receiver for about $600 -- but assumes you will eventually want to do surround. You could still pair it with good used speakers well within your budget.

I'm not going to be specific with models/brands of speakers (KEF, Infinity, B&W, Snell, Klipsch, Boston, Paradigm, Energy, Polk and many others are names to consider).

Whatever you do ... if you are serious about music ... avoid anything by Bose (see third link).

Read lots of reviews (the site I suggested at the 1st and 2nd link is one good place to start) and get a feel for what to look for based on your preferences for style/type.

I hope this helps.