[inicholson]

I'm amazed. I thought I'd get shot down for telling you not to blow the budget on speakers. Instead everybody says spend most on the source (couldn't agree more).

You mentioned your reluctance to spend too much on a 2 channel amp and CD player because you could use the speakers for surround. That's opening up a whole new can of worms. Should you have two separate systems or one system that you use for AV and music?

Why not try listening to an AV system while you're there? It won't play music as well as a dedicated 2 channel hi-fi (they never do). But at the end of the day it all depends on how much you'll use it for music and how much for AV.

Whether you eventually end up with 2 separate systems, an AV system you play music or some sort of compromise (an AV system which uses the stereo for the front channels) is an entirely personal matter which depends on how much you will use it for music/AV and how much you're willing to compromise. I guess the ideal is separate systems in separate rooms but most of us can't do that!