We just moved into a new house and I am finally tired of the computer speaker surround sound we have so its time to upgrade.
The big thing is that the room is open to everything. Kitchen, formal dining room, living room, front door area, and breakfast area are all connected in a semi large rectangle and the ceilings are all raised and some go all the way up to the roof.
This can be good for sound, but bad for deep bass
I usually watch movies with very little music listening, however I am wondering if it would be better to get larger and more expensive fronts/center/sub and worry about the surrounds later on.
That's what I think. And surrounds can be good, but inexpensive, too.
Finally, I have no problems spending 4-5k for a 2.1 system, however, I am wondering if it would be worth it in my case or even needed.
One thing I will say, is that you may find yourself listening to a lot more music with a pair of speakers that don't lather the recording in distortion
My suggestion goes to start with 2.1 - but with two subs instead of one - and then add a center and surrounds later "if you feel like it". You might find the center unnecessary (and difficult to find a good place for without it actually being distraction) and you may find the surrounds don't have to be matching in order to get great results, as long as they're a good design.
I definitely think you want more than one sub though, and good subs at that.
What do I recommend? I think..
1X
Marantz SR6004
2X
JTR Triple 8HT-LP ($2200) or
JBL LSR 6332 ($3200)
2X
Rythmik FV15
Add a third Triple 8HT-LP as a center eventually if you wish, or maybe you won't.
For surrounds, eventually I recommend these active studio monitors. Because they're powered, even though there's four, they won't tax the amp channels on the receiver at all. I find them to be reasonably inexpensive, though your mileage may vary.
4X
JBL LSR2325P
As for 5.1 vs 7.1 my opinion is a bit complex.
One one hand, I don't think many movies use much surround information. I think on average you don't want to spend too much on surround speakers. However, in my experience there's definitely more immersion from 7.1 than there is from 5.1 the surrounds in 5.1 are more easily localized and can actually be a bit of a distraction depending on the source content. In 7.1 the surrounds just seem to dissapear. I think i'd be happy with any of 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1. The advantages as you add more speakers are all subtle but mostly positive. I'm running 6.1 right now and I think it's very good, but for most content I find stereo to be very immersive. I do have a center for 7.1 but to me it brings voices below the TV instead of at TV height where the main speakers bring it, and too sharply defined in space to sound natural.
Another thing you might want to consider, would be room acoustics. Obviously different rooms behave differently with respect to the decay of sound (and especially the formation and cancelation of bass) so it might be worth evaluating.