Kathar -
"A subwoofer and surround speakers are definitely a possiblity for the future, but not for a few years so the floorstanders would have to sound good enough on their own for the time being.
Have you considered a Stereo amp?
People are tied of hearing me push this idea, but it is a good choice for some people in some situations.
At best, or I should say at minimum, you should have Front and Center speakers, and later matching rear speakers are not that expensive. So, shortly down the road, you could really have a full surround sound system.
However, if it is literally years until you can get the Center, Sub, and Rear, then I'm not so sure an AV amp is a good investment right now. As always, technology is advancing, and if you wait more than a year for fill out your system, you AV amps is going to be somewhat obsolete.
Though, let's not take the 'obsolete' idea too far, in two years time, your AV amp will still work and it will still get the job done. But, as mentioned, both amp and DVD/BluRay quality is advancing all the time.
For about £200 to £250 (more or less), you can get a pretty sweet stereo amps that will still do a good job for movies, though it won't have the room filling whooshing and zooming special effect. You will still hear the whooshing and zooming, it just won't be room filling in the same sense that surround sound is.
As to which speakers are best for you, only your ears can tell you that. Of the speakers I suggested, there are no matching center and rears for the Wharfedale Xarus or the Infinity Beta speakers.
That leaves the Monitor Audio Bronze BR series which are on close out at deep discounts. But, being on close out, they are in limited supply. I suspect at some point in the future you could blend MA BX with MA BR, it wouldn't be a perfect match but I suspect it would be close.
In a sense, I'm asking you to sort out your priorities. If you are committed to surround sound, then it seems a waste to get an AV amp, and only put two speakers on it. Three would be workable, and really, adding rear/side speakers in the near future is not that expensive. So, that is a workable path to go down.
Lastly, to connect a stereo to a TV, there are some consideration. First, it works best if your TV has some sort of analog (meaning not digital) AUDIO OUT connectors. These could be a pair of Red and White Audio Out connectors, or it could be hidden in the SCART connector.
As a workable alternative, you could use the Headphone output of the TV, if your TV has one.
If none of these are available, they that means buying an external DAC (digital to analog converter) and that can add about £150 to £250 to your budget.
This last consideration is not necessary with a Surround Sound AV amp, that will have the inputs and DACs that you need.
To Porthos -
You budget is very lean for a pair of floorstanding speakers, low enough that to some extent you have to take what you can get. So, in brief, your choices are get the speakers in the finish you prefer and get half the speaker (mean smaller, lower quality), or compromise on the finish and get twice the speaker at a deep discount.
Example, the Monitor Audio BR5 are about £250 per pair. The new equivalent in the BX5 is about £450/pr and available in light finish -
MONITOR AUDIO BRONZE BX5 SPEAKERS (PAIR) at hifix.co.uk
Trimming your budget back, for £299/pr you ca get this -
WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 10.3 SPEAKERS (PAIR) at hifix.co.uk
Smaller and fewer drivers. Also available in light finish.
Your alternative in a new current model speaker would be something like this -
WHARFEDALE VARDUS VR400 SPEAKERS (PAIR) - available from Superfi UK Visit http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/product_id/4207 for details
Good, but not in the same class as the other speakers being discussed, and in this case, doesn't appear to be available in a light finish.
Putting that one restriction on the finish really reduces the number and quality of speakers available to you. Restated, if you insist on that finish restriction, then your choices are for lesser quality and smaller sized speakers.
The decision is ultimately up to you, and you can get a nice workable system for your budget, but keep in mind the considerations I've listed.
Just a few thoughts.
Steve/bluewizard