rabrant,

One piece of advice that I like to give to friends/coworkers who are getting into HT for the first time is that you are better off getting a excellent 5.1 system rather than a mediocre 6.1 or 7.1 system.

Get the biggest, baddest receiver that you can afford...forego the 6th (and 7th) speaker in exchange for a better quality/more features. You can add the 6th and 7th speaker later.

Good luck.