A decent system might look something like this:
Receiver- looking for something that will give you decent HT and decent sound on a budget. A good 6.1 receiver with about 100 watts will set you up. Yamaha is particularly good at movies and is pretty simple to set up. Sony is probably easier to use, but won't sound as good.
can go with this one, which is an excellent value ($250 shipped)
http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_27285.htm
or if you don't mind taking a little risk for some good savings:
http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_27749.htm
DVD player- we will try to take advantage of a couple of things here. Since you didn't give any information about the TV, I don't know if you have an HDMI input or not. We are trying to get the best possible picture.
I recommend you get a universal player, so you can do SACD or DVD-audio in the future if you want.
If you will have an HDMI input, then this is the way to go. It gives you upconversion on the picture and multichannel music for about $ 260 shipped:
http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_23169.htm
Another choice would be one step down, losing the upconversion, but still having a DVI output (keep in mind that DVI and HDMI are the same video signal, except that HDMI also carries sound). It's about $ 170 shipped
http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_23168.htm
A nice extra about the Samsung units is they ship decent quality cables with all their products, so you won't have to pay $ 100 for an HDMI or DVI or component cable. Either unit will give you 480, 720, and 1080 output to the TV.
As far as speakers, don't buy Bose, especially don't buy a Bose system. You simply will not get the sound you are looking for and you can spend alot less for better quality.
Front speakers- these will carry all your stereo music, so we're going to spend a little ($230 for the pair each shipped) here:
http://ww3.onecall.com/PID_15540.htm (upgrade to the FS-2 if you want floorstanders and can go $ 600 for the pair)
Center Speaker- need to voice-match to the mains ($180 shipped).
http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_15543.htm
Rear speakers ($ 125 each)-
http://ww3.onecall.com/PID_21944.htm
Some Best Buy stores will have the Athena products. Other good speaker brands at this price range include Polk Audio and Infinity, both of which can be demo'd at the local Circuit City.
Sub- most people say to not scrimp on the sub, but it doesn't sound like you plan to be using U-571 to make the baby's cradle rock. there's two very decent, affordable options. I have one of these in my bedroom HT and it sounds perfectly great to me ($150 shipped):
http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_26740.htm
a second choice (one that has been getting some really good press in posts here lately) is the Dayton unit, probably also $ 150 shipped
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/psho...r=300-632&DID=7
This leaves us needing to get a Toslink (fiber optic) cable from the DVD player to the receiver, a subwoofer cable, and some speaker wire.
for the Toslink, one of these ($ 10)
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...tnumber=180-948
or $ 30 if you want a really nice one
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...tnumber=263-892
you will need one or two rolls of this for the rears ($ 14 a roll):
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...tnumber=100-734
a roll of this for the fronts ($ 23 a roll, though you could use left-over from above):
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...tnumber=100-150
and a sub cable. this one already has the Y on the end, which seems to make any sub sound just a little bit better (and the $ 5 price tag is nice too).
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/show...tnumber=189-300
A package like this would put you in the $ 1400 range, but you can probably trim a little with some aggressive internet pricing. It's solid, easily upgradeable, and can always be rolled into your bedroom (or your kid's college dorm room) somewhere down the road should you replace things. If you want to spend a little more, get better fronts and a better sub.
Oh doggone it, I almost forgot. There's two more items you MUST have !!
one of these:
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=COL007438
and this:
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=MGD000362
everything else is optional.
(freely plagiarized from an earlier post by, umm, myself
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