Help me pick a 2.1 Speakers and a good Sound Card for $500

Hmm where u at cos what is available strongly depends on this but in general i would start with stereo/power amps and either good floor standers or bookshelf + 8-10" sub If in the USA Egg has (at times) Energy S10.3 subs with coupon/code that could dip under the $200 mark with free ship and those with some Polks/Infinity should be a decent starter set up IMO hehe

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882269026

The Asus Xonar Essence ST & STX sound cards are nice.......but.

Creative Labs is coming out with a new sound card any day now.

The Recon3D SB1350

Will cost around $100 and has a 600-Ohm headphone amplifier.

Onkyo HTX-22HDX, 2.1 speakers with digital optical/coaxial input.

$200 Xonar ST

$100 Dual LME49710HA x 1 + LME49720HA x 2 for Xonar ST

$170 Klipsch ProMedia 2.1

For a speaker set-up , for a sub the polks are good http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-12-Inch-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B000092TT0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1322150065&sr=8-5 , a bic here http://www.amazon.com/BIC-America-F12-475-Watt-Subwoofer/dp/B0015A8Y5M/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1322150090&sr=8-9 , or if you want to a spend a bit less something from the dayton sub line http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse/ref=sr_tc_0_0_br?node=172568&ie=UTF8&qid=1322150273#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D172568&field-keywords=dayton&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A%21493964%2Cn%3A667846011%2Cn%3A3236449011%2Cn%3A172563%2Cn%3A172568%2Ck%3Adayton . before buying 1 consider how you are going to connect it up, room size and placement.

Speaker amp, you can go with a compact low power t-amp, basic power amp or receiver, http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-8255B-TX-8255-Stereo-Receiver/dp/B001AMSPQI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1322150674&sr=8-5 , http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DH100-2-Channel-Audio-Receiver/dp/B001TP3CH8/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1322150732&sr=8-8 , http://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kardon-HK-3390-Receiver/dp/B00198BOAM/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&qid=1322150754&sr=8-25 , http://www.amazon.com/Teac-AG790A-AG-790A-Stereo-Receiver/dp/B000A6PTHI/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&qid=1322150813&sr=8-38 , t-amp http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-DTA-100a-Class-T-Digital-Amplifier/dp/B004JK8BDK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1322150898&sr=8-3 , power amps http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-APA150-Power-Amplifier/dp/B000VKXLBO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322150915&sr=8-2 , http://www.amazon.com/Samson-Servo-Stereo-Power-Amplifier/dp/B000QCJR6K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322151186&sr=8-2 , it depends on your requirements, t-amps are very compact and low power, receivers have multi inputs/outs dac etc, a power amp just amps the signal with basic inputs but more power, also consider how many watts your need to drive the speakers to what volumes you want http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html .

Speakers are much more subjective, but my recommendations are, the behringers http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-B2030P-Ultra-Linear-Reference-Monitor/dp/B000N94S7O/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1322151627&sr=8-18 , A very netruel and detailed speaker there do well with most music, only downside is they a bit of low-end -3db down at 75hz it won't matter if you pair them with a sub though, they are amazing value for money and techincally a very good speaker.

There's also very various polk speakers, http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-TSi200-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0018QRO9A/ref=sr_1_79?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1322152219&sr=1-79 , http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Performance-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0000E2XEB/ref=sr_1_92?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1322152255&sr=1-92 , http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-TSi100-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00192KEY0/ref=sr_1_154?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1322152299&sr=1-154 , http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Monitor-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0009YWCT4/ref=sr_1_89?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1322152393&sr=1-89

The polks always get excellent reviews and there only ever good things said about them.