Home Theater help?

Without information that is more specific than that provided, the gear that your are talking about is nice, but would not be considered expensive comparative to what is available.

As with any purchase, determine your budget and then shop around. Audiogon and videogon.com are both good places to ask questions about various components and also a good place to find deals on used equipment.

You also need to answer such question as: Are we going to use the system to enjoy music as well as TV and movies? What type of system is sized correctly for the space that we have?

If you intend to enjoy sound as well as moving pictures, the careful consideration should be given to the DVD and CD player, amplification, loudspeakers, and even the interconnect and speaker cabling. The wrong choice in any of these areas can lessen the value of the the good choices that you make.

You might also want to make sure that in wall speakers are what you really want, they dont show up in the room and that is great, but do you want the best performance your budget can acheive, or do you want invisible speakers,
I agree that what they are suggesting is not at all on the expensive side, a bit of research will show almost instantly how costly equipment can get.

Do a lot more homework!
Find friends with HT.
If this is expensive to you, then you will feel stuck
with it once installed.
Also, in-walls are fairly permanent since they are cutting custom holes. Don't do it unless you are sure that is what you need. Some in-walls are great, most sound muddy and lost unless installed properly and in the right environment. You are usually losing some sound qualities to get the "hidden" speakers.
Denon is one of the best all around receiver manufacturers.
Pioneer tv's are really nice-however, you can get very close quality for much less $$$. Look at panasonic. Don't buy a name you've never heard of.
You didn't mention dvd player. Go with Denon for quality, ease of use with the receiver and consistency.
A line conditioner is a must to help save the gear and improve quality. Panamax or similar is great.
Final note: HDMI can be awesome if you have a digital source. The biggest drawback is cable costs. Check out someone like the cable company or bestcables to save about 75% on cables. Monster will kill your budget and isn't so great.

I've done the HT thing in 6.1 channel and I did my homework. But if I could start over I would build a 2 or 2 .1 channel system. It's way more cost effective, better for music and my wife the movie watcher prefers 2 channel stereo when watching TV and movies.

lel,

I'd go with one of the higher-end Denon receiver (3800 series) and a Denon CD, SACD, DVD player that links to it for surround SACD sound. I think 5.1 is the way to go, expecialy for movies and certain TV shows (CSI Miami is especially appealing in HDTV and 5.1, as well as many of the series on HBO and Showtime). I agree that, while a Pioneer Elite is nice, a Panasonic is more cost effective and nearly as nice. Try to match the speakers across the front. Get a good sub for the LFE in movies and TV, and as a LF supplement for music. Monitors, i.e. smaller than floor standing speakers, should be fine if the sub is good. I'd be disinclined to tie myself to inwall speakers. Monitors can be fit unintrusively into your design.

db