ensuring amp speaker match???

[ian_o_o]

Hi,

I am a complete newbie at this, but am about to buy my first Home Cinema set up, to replace my old stereo (which I used to use as surround sound for my TV too) which blew up - I suspect due to incorrect surround sound speakers.

I've have been looking at the Pioneer VSX - C501, which got good reviews, is not too expensive (as I'm on a budget) and matches my DVD plaeyer.

Now as for speakers; a lot of those, well pretty much all of those, numbers that are listed next to speakers are gobbledy gook to me.

I Looked initially at the Pioneer SV41 and SV50's I pefered the look of the SV50's, and thought they'd probably be ok, being the same make and all compatability wise.

Then I saw the Mission FS2AV 's they look nice (even though they aren't silver) and although they area about 100 quid extra, look quite nice and seem to have good write ups in the forums.

Can anyone advise on what I need to check number wise in the tech specs of the speakers and Amp, to ensure I don't end up with blown equipment again?

Thanks
Ian