Run surround anyway. Find a location for the equipment, possibly out of the way (maybe in its own small closet) and run some kind of conduit to the TV location. This not only makes it possible to run the cables without attaching them, it lets you change cabling in the future. Add a Cat5e to whatever you run to the TV- you may need it at some point and it's cheap.
If possible, leave any equipment that doesn't need to be accessed on a regular basis, like amps, receivers, processors, cable or satellite boxes, etc, out of sight. The only devices you need access to are the ones you need to put software into, like a CD/DVD, X-Box or something like that. Many TVs have a memory card slot, so that's not needed in the equipment area. If you can, put the first floor equipment closet over the one in the basement. That way, your electric circuits are run to one place only, you can connect both systems for parties (to play the same music) and it's out of the way. The TVs should be on the same circuit as the rest of the equipment. Terminating every connection in a plate is nice but it adds expense and connecting points. The chance of a connection failing increases as the number of connections increases, but it does look nice. Parts Express has just about everything you'll need for cabling, plates/inserts, mounts, etc. Whether you spend big bucks on interconnects and cabling is your call. I wouldn't use the cheapest cables but I also have found in having done hundreds of home installs, the most expensive cabling won't drastically improve the sound or picture quality unless what they're being compared with has a problem or is just inferior. Spending ten times more may make a .5% improvement, so....
Whatever wiring you do that will be hidden by paneling, drywall or anything else, PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING AND MAKE NOTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Use a video camera and narrate, make several copies and keep at least one in a place that's not in the house, on the computer and definitely not on a magnetic medium. Include distances from walls, floor/ceiling and anything else that will aid in finding the wires later. Don't rely on your memory for this. If you decide to run speaker wires for wall mounting speakers in the future, put a loop at the high location but also leave a tail that will reach the bottom of the wall, in case you decide to use floor standing speakers, instead. This will keep you from cutting holes up high to find the wire, splicing and making repairs that won't look right.
Re: tight bends on cables- there's a "minimum bend radius" for cabling, which is 4 times the cable's diameter. If you have a 1/2" cable, 2" radius is the minimum.
