2 channel movie lstening;is it worth the sacrafice

After being solely dedicated to 2-channel listening for nearly 20 years, I started an HT system with components I had kept from my audio system.

I realize that many people do not have the luxury to set up a system in on room for music and another for movies. But in the context of many homes with a TV/Movie setup in a family room setting and a basement room to set up a dedicated music system, it can be wonderful. And I must admit that it is very nice to have surround sound for so many movies.

Yes, it does make a huge difference with a lot of movies with special effects. For other movies where this is not the case, I would agree with the above posts.

Ultimately if I only had one room for all this, I would focus my attention and resources to the front 2 channels and start with a budget amp and speakers for the surround.

My personal preference is stereo for music and movie, it is real. The 5.1 and plus set up to me is full of distortion/exaggeration, which many may find to be enjoyable--unreal!

Apparently, I disagree with most people here.

I find that 5.1 is worth getting.
However, not to the exclusion of a good 2 channel stereo system. (First things first of course!)

I find that watching DVD's and listening to them in stereo is distracting, as you have to crank up the sound to get past all of the music, special sound effects and other crap, that is added from the front and rear surrounds, just to be able to listen to the dialog.
By having a center channel, (that pretty much only carries the dialog), I find I can listen to the movies easier without having to listen to the dialog through the extra music and special effects. (To me, the music and special effects coming through the surround speakers are mainly to augment the movies (and the dialog), not to dominate the sound.)

Now, if I had to choose between a good stereo system and no 5.1 for video, or good 5.1 and poor stereo system, I would pick the good stereo system everytime. (However, you are definitely going to miss the 5.1 soundtrack.)

I waited until I had my stereo built up to a decent level, and then added a second HT setup in the same room, which is a decent 5.1 setup, but in no way, shape or form competes with my stereo system. (I probably spent a 10:1 ratio between my stereo and my HT setup.)

Life is full of tough choices!
You need to make up your own mind which is more important to you, at this point in time: Music or Video?

Good Luck!

I used to have my stereo and movie surround system all in the same room.
Recently, I moved the surround processor, multi-channel amp, sub-woofer, etc. to another room where the kids watch movies. They love the surround system. Most of their movies take full advantage of the surround system, sub-woofer, etc. In my listening room, I have a two channel system with a
43 inch plasma screen on the wall between my speakers. I play DVD's and
watch digital cable including HDTV on the screen with the sound coming out of my stereo speakers. My system puts the voices right in the center where the screen is located -- even though my speakers are about 8 feet apart. I don't find that I need a center speaker to locate the voices in the screen. I don't watch many of the whiz-bang type movies that would take advantage of the surround system. I found that, after watching a few of
those movies to enjoy the surround, I settled back into watching the types of
movies I usually watch -- and there was very little for the surround speakers or sub-woofer to do during these movies, if anything. If I want to watch a
whiz-bang movie, I can always watch in the other room, but I don't find myself doing that. So, if I had to make a choice, it would be two-channel for
both music and movies. A person on a budget who was more interested in
music than home theatre could concentrate his/her spending on two channels and acquire a far better system than one who has to split his/her spending among five or even seven channels. And yes, a two channel amp and a 5 channel amp at the same price is no contest, the two channel amp will give you much better sound. Same with pre-amp. And the same money spent on two speakers will give you far better sound that the same money spread over five speakers. Finally, all SACD's have a stereo layer, so even when considering High Rez, there is no absolute need for multi-channel. I love listening to SACD's in two-channel.

another vote for 2 channel home theather. yeah, multichannel is much more immersive, but it depends on what your priorities are. It's much more cost effective to do high end 2 channel with video graphed on, than anything else. Plus you get two *great* channels out of it. Forme its good enough.

Some guys do the HT-bypass thing and add a few more channels of mediocre quality, which is cool, but I'd rather spend than money on something else. I find well done 2 channel to be immersive enough (including action movies). To each his own.