Susan,
Guessing you've spent some time looking around as the Olive and particularly the Meridian combination isn't something you'd happen to bump into by chance! Also living in Scotland, and having lived in the Borders, I would really keep away from streaming and a NAS until the broadband experience improves, so yes, the local hard disk system is a great solution. Unfortunately, not many traditional hi-fi manufactures offer such a component but there are media server alternatives, including the Olive, QAT etc.
The primary options are as follows:
1. Your suggested system, although I personally would have doubts over the Ollve 4HD although I assume you'd use the Meridian DACs. so much less of an issue.
2. Olive does make a so-called 'audiophime model - the 6HD but this is has some strange operation foibles ie the display is at the top of the unit so can't be used in a rack but I'm guessing that's not an issue for you. However, for the same price as that, you could go for the Meriidan Sooloos Control 15, which although expensive at £4750, I'm sure you could get a good deal on the all Meridian system and it is infinitely better than the Olive, also, it has the best interface of any audio product in the world. It does support streaming in addition to ripping, so is future proof if you move or the broadband gets more stable and faster.
3. Although not to everyone's taste looks and sound wise, (but would suit your music tastes, speaking as a huge Elvis and Sun fan myself!), you could look at Naim. The Unitiserve is exactly what you're looking for as a superb ripper - it really makes outstanding recordings. You could team this with the Unitiqute (combined amp, DAC and streamer) or the new UnitiLite (similar but adds a cd player) or other Naim 'all in ones' or separate amps and DAC. In the future, the Qute could be a second system in another room streaming from the Unitiserve. Add speakers from Neat (although, not exactly great looking) Amphion, or B&W 'CM' series or Kef 'R' (all of which do look great!).
4. Another (much cheaper) option is to use something like a Mac Mini, buying a Meridan CD Player if you still would like that option, however, the Mac Mini would again assume absolute sound quality for your money isn't the uttermost concern, although I'm sure there wouldn't be a great deal of difference between that and the Olive 4HD and most things sound great connected to Meridian!
5. Given your requirements, you could look at Sonneteer, notably the Morpheus Music Centre and matching media server. Although priced individually at £2500 each, I'm sure you could get a pretty good package price as I wouldn't think they sell too many! Although lifestyle oriented, they are 'proper' high end hifi and sound great - theyr're hand made in a wide choice of colours. Just add some speakers such as Amphion.
6. There is also the option of using Olive 4HD or 6HD will an amplifier and passive speakers which opens up lots of possibilities. However, if you want to go down the active speaker route, certainly Meridian is the best (if a very expensive) solution - the Core 200 will provide you with all kinds of sophisitcated technology to tailor the sound based upon your room and how you use the DSP3200s. Certainly, I would strong recommend the Meridian combination over AVI, but then I get the feeling one look at the AVis will be enough to put you off!
If you can get to Level in Fife, give Audio Emotion a call - the best hi-fi shop in Scotland, if not the UK. They won't stock Sonneteer or Meridian but will be a great place for some advice and as a starting point, stocking many brands you can't find anywhere else. Enjoy and good luck!