What we need to know Keyplayer, is about your place- is it on the grid now? That's a biggie. Do you need solar to supplement or provide backup for grid power, or is it going to be all grid? Do you need refrigerator, washing machine and that, or are you willing to look at other possibilities? (I have an old fashioned icebox, yeah you put ice in it, and I take all the laundry to town every few weeks and run several kilowatts of driers all at once... ah, consumption!) And what all gear do you want to run?
*answer those, and we can get somewhere...*
Do you have a specific site already, or are you looking for one?
My system installed cost around $20,000. That's a round figure. To get grid power in her would have cost twice that at LEAST. Plus the power company was really autocratic and high-handed about it. Their way or forget. I forgot it. I only have 4 panels up- would like to install some more.
Monthly maintenance is like nothing. Some gas for the generator. The rule is usually that your single biggest load means turn on the generator (and charge up the batteries that way while you're at it), everything else can be run off the batteries. (Mine is the 440 watt tube amps, when I get them both going- do a lot monitoring of just one.) Other rule of thumb is usually two Trojan golf cart batteries per solar panel. I'm 24 volt too.
I use a Honda generator for my backup- I tend to work in binges, so it gets used a fair amount during the binges and in the winter, although hydro is picking up the slack now that I have it going. Studio electronics comprise almost all my power usage, that and lighting, which is just a few compact flourescents. Here's where my taste for outsized tube amps for monitoring starts to cost me... other than those and the tube amps for instruments, the studio electronics do not run much juice. 30 watts apiece more or less for each piece of rack, and I don't use many.
For computer I have a Powerbook G4- the laptop is incredibly energy efficient compared to anything else. LCD screen is far better than CRT for power.
The main thing is this- it ALWAYS costs less to run more efficient gear than to buy more panels. ALWAYS. Conservation is the key.