I have just gone back to seperates (albeit on a budget) after going the "all in one" route with a Denon DHT500SD.
The Denon was ok to an extent but I was never particularly happy with the sound quality after previously having a good seperates system and there were one or two little niggles with it that I didn't appreciate.
As I say, I was really on a budget and spent ages making a decision, but plumped for the following........
TEAC DV7D DVD Player
TEAC AG7D 6.1 Receiver
ELAC Cinema 2 speaker system
I got the DVD and matching receiver for just over £200.00, (although I think a mistake had been made on the price of the DVD player from the website I used and I only ended up paying £53.00 for it!!) and the speaker system was £299.00. All prices were delivered by the way. That's just under £500.00 all in for a system that blows the Denon (best in class????) into the water.
Both of the companies I used were first class, the items were delivered within two days.
I am now one happy chappy. The sound quality is superb from the speakers, they have really surpassed my expections on what to expect from a sat/sub system. Plenty of bass, and the centre speaker is spot on.
The DVD player too is exceptional when connected up via component for progressive scan.
I was worried about the DVD player in particular because as I say it was showing at a price of £53.00 and I thought it would be crap! But checking on other websites confirmed that it should have been £140.00 or thereabouts so I felt a little more reassured of it's quality.
The websites I used were........
For the speakers
www.superfi.co.uk
For the receiver and DVD player
www.homecinematv.co.uk
Hope that helps a bit for you. I am no expert and recognise that my system may not be the all singing all dancing set ups that other have, but my ears and eyes tell me what I want to know and for this price, I honestly don't think you will buy a better sounding set up, unless you were to buy second hand.
Rob
PS The receiver is 6.1 capable and I am absolutely certain that you can buy an extra speaker for the Elac system. I am sure I have seen them sold seperately somewhere.