yustr

There are plenty of options at the $500 price point - the one I linked just happens to be $494 and got very good reviews. Shop around. Go find a small audio/video store where the sales staff actually knows about their products. I'd avoid the blue shirt's and the other large retailers. Read reviews and product literature. What could be more fun than shopping for new gear!

A good rule of thumb is to spend about 2x more on speakers than on your receiver. But if you can't swing both right away, then I'd say buy the receiver you want and a set of less expensive speakers to use while you save. (Though I'd reverse that suggestion if its going to be more than a year or so before you can get the speakers - receiver technology changes much more quickly than speakers. With that in mind, you could also look for used speakers.)

Routing your HDMI sources through the receiver is not essential but is preferred. Some folks have experienced time delay issues with the audio when connected separately. Plus, some players do not send out a separate digital audio feed when it detects that a HDMI cable is attached.