Originally Posted By: Murph
If it comes down to buying the speakers in stages.....
Some might disagree as it will be personal preference, but for movies I would recommend buying a good sub and save the surrounds for later when you can save up more coin.

Why? The majority of movies out there don't put a lot of material in the surround channel. Even a lot of action movies under utilize them. It's a lot of fun when you get a well produced movie audio-wize and there are lots of surround effects but the sad part is that those movies are not as common as you might think.

On the other hand, LFE is the big thing now. Any action movie will benefit from a subwoofer, even though some will be, again, better than others. It seems that even the non action movies are putting in really low noises or deep effects to build tension. Also, the effect of a good sub on music, for me, is much stronger than the nice, but more subtle, effect of using surround speakers for music.

So personally, I get much more enjoyment and more fulfillment from my sub than I do my surrounds the large majority of the time.

If I had to do it again in stages, I'd definitely buy in this order.
Mains -> Sub -> Surrounds -> Center.


Additionally, you can use your current speakers as surrounds for now to keep surround sound in the loop.

You may also find yourself listening to more music once you hear what it is actually supposed to sound like.

M80s/VP160/QS8s/EP350; M22s; M3s.