I'm about to build my first H/T, and I've been reading the forums and doing other research. I'm looking for a receiver and speakers to replace my 18-year-old stereo receiver and bargain-bin KDS speakers.
Thru your help, I've focused in on Denon 1803 refurb for ~$350 and Hsu VT-12 Satellites with the VTF-2 for ~$650 getting me right at $1000. (I have 32" CRT and DVD player, so only shopping receiver and speakers) I'd rather not spend $1000, but I want to get something for my money.

My question is, is it worth spending $1000 to put a system like this together, or should I just buy an Onkyo(or something like it) H/T in a box for $500-600?

I went to Audio Concepts here in Houston over the weekend, and a very helpful guy talked to me for a long time about all the higher end options - B&G, NAD etc., for down the road, but said for now, I should just get H/T in a box if my budget is under $1000.

I am clearly not an audiophile, but I love music and movies very much, and I'm really wanting good volume and quality from the Sub (Hence my interest in Hsu), and good articulation of the 5.1 surround to really flesh out movies like Lord of the Rings. My goal is clean loud guitar rock(The Who, Green Day), and booming movie performance, and I fear that H/T in a box isn't going to deliver this.

I did listen to the Onkyo in-a-box and another brand at Fry's, and they sounded competent standing there in the store, but there wasn't anything better to compare them to, and at Audio Concepts, everything was much better than I can afford, so I'm unable to listen-test my proposed system. Since I can't really test my Denon/Hsu against an H/T in a box, I don't know if my ears will hear the extra money.

Any suggestions/confirmations on this would be wonderfully helpful.