I am ready to build a good HT system. I planned to buy a Bose system, but after finding this forum I don’t think I will go that route. Like most people I have a budget, but I figured I would try to put together a system piece by piece over the course of several months so I can keep the one time expense down. Currently, I am just using my TV speakers so anything will be an improvement, but I know if I just buy a cheap little surround sound package from Best Buy I will soon want better quality.

Here’s the challenge. I’d like to start by spending around $1000, then $200 - $300 each of the next several months until the project is complete. I can skip a month and combine two months for a $400 - $600 component if I need to, but I want to enjoy the system sooner rather than later so I don’t want to save for several years to buy a $10,000 speaker. Also, my budget is a little flexible – I don’t want to pass up a much better component if I only have to spend a few dollars over my budget to take a significant step up, nor do I want to spend extra money on something that will not make much difference just because I have the money in my budget.

My Questions:
1. What should I buy first?
2. In what order should I buy things?
3. Which brands/models will work best given my criteria?
4. What features are most important?

Current video components:
Sony KP-46WT500 Rear Projection Widescreen TV
Sony DVP NS700P – Progressive Scan DVD Player
Sony SLV-N88 – VCR
Hughes Direct TV/TIVO Receiver w/ Dual Tuner
X-Box

Additional considerations:

Room is about 20’ long x 11’ wide with a peaked ceiling that reaches about 14ft. at the highest point. The Entertainment Center is (and has to be) positioned along the side wall as opposed to being at one end of the longest part of the room.

The room is pre-wired with pretty good audio cable, but it is wired for speaker placement about 7 ½ ft high.

Due to room configurations and furniture placement, bookshelf speakers are almost essential, though the center channel speaker can be bigger.

Usage is probably 75% TV/DVD/etc. & 25% music, but would probably be 60/40 TV to Music if I had better audio equipment.

Music preference is 45% Hard Rock (KISS, AC/DC, etc.), 45% Hip Hop/Rap & 10% Jazz. With most music, my philosophy is louder is better. I like to feel the music as well as hear it. With Hip Hop/Rap lots of bass is essential.

I plan to add a HDTV receiver one of these days and also figure I will eventually end up connecting my HT to my computer network so I can tap into audio & video files on my computers.

I hope I haven’t overwhelmed everyone with too much information. I would appreciate any advice you all can provide.