Hi all, very impressed with the knowledge here. I've learned alot already. One thing I haven't learned yet, is are there systems that give excellent sound without shaking down the house? Sound clarity is MUCH more important to me (and more importantly, the missus ) than loudness. My brother has a surround sound system, pretty high priced (>$1000), yet we couldn't hear the voices for the background/ambient sounds of the movie. So I was very disappointed in that. He had the system volume turned up so we could hear the dialogue, but that made the musical score, background noises, off screen noises that much louder.

Also, we have a 2 story family room. About 22 feet long by 16 feet wide. Our 52" projection is on the short axis so I'm not sure how much surround we could actually use. But more importantly, our son's room is at the top of the stairs, so cranking up the volume is not an option for Saturday night movie watching.

The problem then is this. We want very good surround sound and clarity of dialogue without having to crank up the volume. A powered subwoofer is a must for when we want to feel the movie, but we can always crank the bass down for the nighttime viewings. Does such a system exist? I get the impression that all these surround sound systems are designed to play VERY loud. So I would guess I'd need a lot of wattage to power lower volumes, but I'm not sure on that either.

Any and all help appreciated. Thanks