2 channel movie lstening;is it worth the sacrafice

My opinion is to get the best stereo experience you can and later add on HT components integrate with your stereo system.

Wish I had followed my own advice but hindsight being 20/20 and all ....

Started with a cheap Denon receiver and Klipsch speakers. Music listening was simply painful.

First upgraded the main speakers to JMlab Cobalt 816s and got the matching center speaker.

A few months ago I got a Plinius 8100 integrated.

Now, music listening is amazing. HT is better because the Plinius does a better job driving the speakers than the cheap amp section in the Denon.

The only thing I'm still tweaking is the subwoofer. Trying to optimize its performance for both stereo and HT is a challenge but I'm making good progress.

If I had a time machine I would have had hundreds more to spend on a better integrated or main speakers but them's the breaks.

rsbeck-
Amen Brother! I had a surround system and came to the same conclusion. I now use an integrated amp with two speakers. Most movies that i watch have mainly dialog from the characters. Action movies bore me. Buy an integrated amp and forget all the speakers/wiring etc.

I put together a two-channel system for our tv-watching, and it works fine. Most of the good stuff in a movie happens inside your head or in the dialogue anyway, so a good two-channel does fine. Of course, this is mostly for the kids, and it helps that they were brought up on mono black and white. To them colour with good stereo sound is nirvana.

I vote for quality over quantity.

Give your heads a shake!! This is the Home Theater category, not a place for anti-HT/2 ch.-only guys to post...
Just for the record, I love my two channel music system, and I've spent way more money on that system than my home theater.
However, listening to a movie in stereo, when it was designed and mastered with a good multi-channel mix, with the director's approval, for the best performance possible, is ridiculous!! You miss so much of the intended effects and rob yourself of the best performance. It's like watching pan 'n'scan instead of widescreen - there's information missing!!
Of course, there are always exceptions, and yes, a lot of music concerts sound better in two channel PCM than they do in "compressed" DD or DTS. But overall, the multi-channel mix in movies is the way to go.