I'd also recommend a straight up 2 channel rig. They work fine for video and you are going to be able to get a higher quality sound. You will only need 2 speakers instead of 5, you will also only need 2 pair of speaker cables instead of 5... get the idea? if you have $500 for speakers, you can get 2 nice speakers, or 5 mediocre speakers...
if set up properly, which I bet you will do, when sitting in the middle you won't need a center channel speaker anyway because the voices should come from the center anyways. Someone once told me that the best center channel is no center channel, and I tend to agree.
Even though I currently have a Peachtree Nova Pre/220 combo (bought local for $900)I'm not a huge supporter of Peachtree but... some place is selling the new Nova 125 SE in Rosewood for $1100 or $1199 and that may not be a bad place to start.
Think about resale also. Buy components that you can get your money back out of easily so that if you don't like it, or want to upgrade, you can :)
Another option would be a Parasound Halo A21 here on audiogon for $500, a schiit bifrost uber with usb, and a schitt passive volume control.
I'd go with Blue Jeans interconnects and speaker cables; great bang for the buck and not expensive.
Good Luck!
if set up properly, which I bet you will do, when sitting in the middle you won't need a center channel speaker anyway because the voices should come from the center anyways. Someone once told me that the best center channel is no center channel, and I tend to agree.
Even though I currently have a Peachtree Nova Pre/220 combo (bought local for $900)I'm not a huge supporter of Peachtree but... some place is selling the new Nova 125 SE in Rosewood for $1100 or $1199 and that may not be a bad place to start.
Think about resale also. Buy components that you can get your money back out of easily so that if you don't like it, or want to upgrade, you can :)
Another option would be a Parasound Halo A21 here on audiogon for $500, a schiit bifrost uber with usb, and a schitt passive volume control.
I'd go with Blue Jeans interconnects and speaker cables; great bang for the buck and not expensive.
Good Luck!