re: Help Me Upgrade My Current AV Setup

I always tell people to start with 2.0--most do it the other way and have to back track and then hodge podge the rig.

Think about it this way--you start with a capeable 2 channel rig. When you watch a movie or TV, 90% of what you hear, even in a 5.1 set up, comes from the front L+R. So why not listen to your movies and TV through a great 2 channel system, and then when more money becomes available, add a pre pro and a 3 channel amp and if you desire, the same brand speaker, albeit smaller, as the mains, and voila--you are done!

Instead, most people start with cheap surround sound receiver and try to work around that and end up with a clusterfrick of mismatched amps, pres, DACs, channels, speakers, etc.--and the entire time they are still listening to their nice 2 channel stereo through a crappy surround receiver...THEY ARE DOING IT BACKWARDS.
if you start with a nice 2 channel system, your TV and DVD will sound better through just 2 channels of good amp/pre amp/larger speaker than through a forced 5 channel surround rig--people feel they need all those channels.

I don't even listen in Dolby Digital anymore--I default to 5 channel stereo or 2 channel stereo.
And as of last week, all my video from the Oppo and the Cox cable tuner is running 2 channel as I hijacked the rear speakers (Zu Audio) to hook up to a Marantz vintage that is in another bedroom.. I don't miss a sound from the rears.

I guarantee that I can run a movie or concert video through my big rig using only 2 channel stereo from the Blu-Ray player and knock your socks off.

The surround channels are unnecessary and a product of marketing, for the most part, IMHO.

FWIW...