I had a Pioneer receiver with stereo, analog inputs, and Dolby Prologic (not II) processing that had left, right, center, and two surround outputs (old Prologic only sent the same signal to both of the surrounds). I had Fisher mains (12" woofers with 12" passive radiators), and Pioneer center/surrounds. That would have been in 1992 or so. Used this setup with a JVC S-VHS HiFi VCR. Displaying on a 28" Sony Trinitron TV. I hadn't even graduated high school yet (paid for with proceeds of delivering news papers for 7 years).
In 1998 I upgraded to a Sony receiver, and all Sony speakers, including a sub. This receiver had digital inputs and understood Dolby Digital and DTS for true 5.1. It still only had Prologic processing for stereo signals, as version II wouldn't show up until 2000. Sony DVD player, until it broke, then I used a PS2 as my player, until it began to wear out, moved to an original Xbox for a while, until I got my DV-79AVi. Most of this time I was using a 36" Sony Wega, but substituted in a 32" View Sonic LCD TV for a bit while saving up for a Kuro. This system started when I was in college.
I'm back to Pioneer now, having bought the 1018 in 2008. Running 7.1 now. Still have some of the Sony speakers (waiting to be replaced). The Kuro is my display, and the PS3 is my primary player, but still have the Pioneer Elite DVD player for DVD-Audio discs.
