My room works great w/ 2 x QS8s. I know other prefer direct radiating speakers. You can always wire the room for 7.1 and start off w/ 5.1. Buy speakers to add later on, w/ the wires already in place.

I contemplated 6.1 because I'm rotating my room 45 degrees and thought about leaving wire already in place. But I don' t see enough DVDs in 7.1 to justify it.