You really do need to set a budget in order to get any specific advice. You could get a very nice surround system comprised of a good HT receiver, 5 speakers and a good subwoofer, along with all the cables & stuff, for $2500 or less. Or you could spend a half million dollars pretty easily!
In between lies a lot of territory.
Room size is the first issue. A larger room will require larger speakers and more powerful amps to get good sound. And a larger room will require a more powerful subwoofer, or multiple subs.
I figured WAF wasn't a major issue- seldom do you see RPTVs that big if the lady of the house has any say in it.
I'd strongly recommend setting aside $500-$1000 for acoustic treatments if finances permit. It's hard to imagine it, but often a $5,000 system in a well treated room will outperform a $50,000 system in an untreated room. The room is arguably the most important component in our system, along with the speakers.
The receiver is the heart of your system. It will connect & switch all your audio and video components and feed them to your speakers and TV. It's not necessary to spend a ton but you don't want to skimp here. Look for something with decent power (85 WPC will do most rooms, more is better) and plenty of connections. Since many components have digital outputs, you'll want to make sure you can connect several. Newer models will switch HDMI, and this is a great feature (eg you could connect your PS3 and an HD-DVD player to the receiver, then to your TV- a great thing if your TV set only has one HDMI input). Another nice feature is video upconversion; this will upconvert all video devices to component video to minimize the amount of cables you need. Also, make sure it has good bass management and the ability to decode all relevant formats. Lastly, spend some time with remote. It's the interface you'll end up using 95% of the time, so either be sure you like the layout or plan on a univeral remote.
You may wish to then consider the subwoofer. A good sub isn't cheap but the success of your HT system will depend in great part on the quality of your bass. The size of the room and your viewing habits will determine what you need. There's a lot of info about subwoofers, but in the end it comes down to displacement- a larger room will require a larger, more powerful subwoofer. HSU Research acually rates their subs by room size. The best thing would be to spend a year or two reading everything you can find, starting here. What- you don't wanna wait a couple years?
Then here's a shortcut.
Very good subwoofer companies:
- Axiom
- Hsu Research
- SVS
- VMPS
- Velodyne
- AV123/Onix Rocket
Are there other good brands? Sure, there are dozens. But if you stick to brands listed above and buy the correct size for your room you should be okay.
Speakers: This is the most subjective part of HT, but there are rules that apply. First, decide what you want out of them. Will they be just for gaming & HT or will they pull double duty for music? While it's often said that good speakers will do a good job with anything you feed them, HT reproduction is a bit simpler than good musical performance. There are many rigs that will give good theater sound but fall short with high resolution music.
A few rules of thumb- as above, there's no replacement for displacement. Avoid subwoofer/satellite systems with very very small midrange/woofers (smaller than 5" or so). A small driver is unable to play low notes with clarity and adequate volume. Even though you'll use a sub, the mains must reach down low enough to "meet the subs in between." Likewise, the laws of physics dictate that all else being equal a larger speaker will play louder with less distortion than a smaller one.
Next, plan on buying voice matched speakers. Stick to five speakers from the same company and the same line. The sub needn't be the same brand, but the mains & center at the very minimum must match. Otherwise when sounds pan from one speaker to the other there'll be discontinuities in the reproduced sound. Best case would be either 5 identical speakers or 3 identical ones across the front (ie Front Left, Center & Front Right) with voice matched surrounds. Many people, myself included, prefer dipole or bipole surround for HT. Most speaker companies produce speakers designed for the surround channels of HT.
Don't waste money on expensive cables, especially Monster Cable. Salemen will agressively push "premium" cabling not because of performance but because of margin: cables are the most profitable product they sell. Stick with good quality yet affordable stuff like Blue Jeans, AR & the like.
Finally do some research on setup. Speakers won't perform at their best unless carefully set up according to the manufacturers guidelines. This is where you'll really hear the difference in an acoustically treated room.
Ultimately what you get out of your rig depends on the care and thought you put into it's purchase and set up. There's no substitute for carefully reseraching your system, but reading the content at AH will get you off to a great start!
