New to audio and don't know anything

[tek]

I consider myself somewhat tech savvy, but I've never cared about audio my whole life. I've started realizing that I'm missing out on a lot, and so i want to take the leap into some decent audio.

To start off I have my PS3 connected to my Sony KDS-50A2000 via HDMI, and audio coming out of the tv, nothing exciting. So i live in a small one bedroom apartment and would like to respect my neighbors to an extent. I'm not looking for anything that is going to shake by body and the building (yet)... I know NOTHING about setups or technology so i ask any of you...

What is a good starting point for all of this? I don't want to spend more than a few hundred at the most. I see this as almost a "starter kit" so i don't want to get to over my head. Also any ideas of good ways to do my own research would be good. (i've done a fair bit of web surfing but it all goes over my head.)

So any suggestions for receivers, speakers, ways to learn this on my own would be greatly appreciated. I'm excited to get into the audio game.

Thanks in advance