Johnbasham, badger98 and JohnK,
Thanks for the information. I ordered 3 optical cables from partsexpress at $7.50 a piece. Best Buy had the 'low end' AR cable at $25 and a 'high end' monster at $50 each!! This is an awesome forum. As JohnK suggested, I will use the RCA connections until the optical cables arrive.
The only thing left is the speaker wire. Looks like it has been extensively discussed in these forums. I will stop by home depot to pick up some speaker wire. My speakers are supposed to arrive today. I can't wait!
Regards