The time has come for me to invest some serious cash into some serious sound equipment for my lounge and I'm looking for advice / recommendations with regards to speakers and amps. I'll be using it for the usual music and movies and am prepared to spend a decent amount, i.e. > £1K.

What do people do nowadays with regards to music and mp3 players? I presume it's better to run an iPod through an amp first? I've become such a headphone man it's unbelievable.

Any advice appreciated.