Since the Fatal1ty has a digital optical out and you prefer music quality, I would use that to connect to the receiver, so there are no additional conversions from analog to digital and vice versa which can cause various forms of distortion.
I think you will find the Panasonic SA-XR55/57 to be the most well received receiver under $300 if you are going for a purely digital connection. The receiver uses a relatively new technology that produces a large amount of power with significantly lower distortion than comparable Class A/B amplifiers. In stereo mode it uses 4 amps (2/channel) and if you biamp, it uses 6 amps . Each amp is rated at 90W/channel at 8ohms, 0.03% distortion. It would be very difficult to find an analog A/B receiver at even twice this price for that kind of performance.
As far as speakers, especially if your focus is music, I would get a high quality pair of bookshelves first, this would net your the highest price/performance.
At this point you will need to decide if you need a very full sounding pair of speakers (adding a quality subwoofer in the future), or if you are content with a speaker that has ample bass but will not blow your socks away. If your focus is mainly non-bass heavy music, you can get away with a speaker that only goes down to about 60hz. (There's very little material below 50hz in general in music, unless we are talking about rap music).
I personally think you should start with bookshelves and add a sub later...bookshelves will generally give you ample bass anyway.
My favorite picks at $400 price range are the Usher S-520 and the Dana 630. Here are two reviews for the ushers:
http://stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/1205usher/
http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/bookshelf/usher-audio-s-520-bookshelf-speaker-review
The Dana 630s do not have a true review although it's been received very well at AVSforum, the bottom is a link where the top contenders in your price range, and the Dana 630 arguably came on top (these are mostly internet direct speakers...the Ushers are dealer only...with internet direct you get guaranteed 30-day no questions asked return policy).
Since the Fatal1ty has a digital optical out and you prefer music quality, I would use that to connect to the receiver, so there are no additional conversions from analog to digital and vice versa which can cause various forms of distortion.
I think you will find the Panasonic SA-XR55/57 to be the most well received receiver under $300 if you are going for a purely digital connection. The receiver uses a relatively new technology that produces a large amount of power with significantly lower distortion than comparable Class A/B amplifiers. In stereo mode it uses 4 amps (2/channel) and if you biamp, it uses 6 amps . Each amp is rated at 90W/channel at 8ohms, 0.03% distortion. It would be very difficult to find an analog A/B receiver at even twice this price for that kind of performance.
As far as speakers, especially if your focus is music, I would get a high quality pair of bookshelves first, this would net your the highest price/performance.
At this point you will need to decide if you need a very full sounding pair of speakers (adding a quality subwoofer in the future), or if you are content with a speaker that has ample bass but will not blow your socks away. If your focus is mainly non-bass heavy music, you can get away with a speaker that only goes down to about 60hz. (There's very little material below 50hz in general in music, unless we are talking about rap music).
I personally think you should start with bookshelves and add a sub later...bookshelves will generally give you ample bass anyway.
My favorite picks at $400 price range are the Usher S-520 and the Dana 630. Here are two reviews for the ushers:
http://stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/1205usher/
http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/bookshelf/usher-audio-s-520-bookshelf-speaker-review
The Dana 630s do not have a true review although it's been received very well at AVSforum, the bottom is a link where the top contenders in your price range, and the Dana 630 arguably came on top (these are mostly internet direct speakers...the Ushers are dealer only...with internet direct you get guaranteed 30-day no questions asked return policy).
http://av123forum.com/showthread.php?t=28546&page=2
I personally own the Ascend Acoustics 170SEs. They are perhaps the most critically neutral speakers you can get under $400. But they have their limitations, bass response is usually one, and there were some tradeoffs made for this kind of accuracy. Personally if I had to start over I would pick the Dana 630s...but I don't think you could go wrong with the Ascend 170SEs, AV123 X-LS encores, Usher S-520, or the SVS SCS-01s (SVS is a very well known subwoofer company, one of the best, along with Elemental Designs, Epik, and Hsu Research). All of these speakers are incredibly accurate, much more so than retail/brick and mortar speakers in this price range. The advantage of internet direct is no middleman, so a very large amount of the money is sunk into the components. The X-LS encore for example, the DIY kit for the drivers from GR Research (a driver manufacturer) alone are $150...this is for a $299 speaker, not including enclosure, crossover, etc.
Anyway this is just some stuff for you to chew on. My pick would be Panasonics + Dana 630s for musical clarity. If you want a fuller sounding speaker the one with the most bass extension is the AV123 X-LS Encore.
... that's definately a lot to chew one. it seems that most of those products I would have to order through the net as they don't seem to be available locally. 
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