last night, I added banana plugs to my Axiom M22 and VP150. everything was working perfectly fine, until this morning when listening to music, suddently my receiver died! I actually seen some smoke come out :-(

My questions are: 1) Is there a chance my much loved axiom speakers do this? 2) I guess I will be getting another receiver (mine was bought from an online e-tailer and seems its not under warranty). Any recommenedations for a good 5.1 receiver ($300 or cheaper, I learned my lesson not to buy 'expensive' receivers) 3) What do you guys use?

TIA!