For the money, Best set up for HT and music

I would think twice on Room EQ many units I suspect would be affordable do nothing more than can be done in 15 minutes and a knowledge of your speakers so its fluff that offers no real value after you set it up....and may come at a premium in price for percieved value.

Room treatments and speaker placement are always the best place to start but I would not completely discount room eq. Seems as if ALL the new receivers have it and many people are getting good results, especially taming bass peaks.

Which of these set up do you think is best? Or if you think one set of speakers would sound better with another, or one subwoofer is the best, or even better that I listed; What would you say?

Thank you all again for responding so quickly to my last post. What do you think of this for a set up:

Denon 2808ci, 2- Aperion 632LR book shelf, Aperion Intimus 5c Center Channel and a Cambridge P300HD subwoofer.

Or

Denon 2808ci, 2- Von Schweikert VR-2, LCR 15 center, HSU VTF-3 MK3 subwoofer

Or

Denon 2808ci, 2- B&W Nautilus 805, B&W LCR600 S3, DB604S3, Aperion S-10 subwoofer

For DVD, I was thinking Oppo 981HD, or do you think I should stick with a Denon player (29xx) considering the Denon receiver.

If you think there would be a better receiver please let me know. I would like hdmi for the fact that I have a nice 46'' TV. Or do you think its best to leave the receiver out of it and let the other equiptment handle the decoding?

Do you think with any of these set ups I need a pre amp? Finally if you have a better idea for a mix and match, or set up; please let me know. Everyone, thank you so much again for your fast feed back and excellent advice, it is truly appreciated.

Best amp Rotel? Any better, or what would be best price/performance?

1. The Aperion speakers are nice for what they are, but not even close to the same league as the Von Schweikert and B&W speakers you mention - so I would say go with the VS or BWs. Depends on your preference - my guess is that the VS will be smoother across frequency range, and BWs will be a bit more forward and revealing. You will need some clean power to run either one (see below).

2. HSU or Aperion Subs are fine. HSU is probably better. Cambridge Soundworks, not so sure. If you had any extra funds, this might be a good place to spring for a used REL sub, which would be more musical for 2 channel work than any of these picks.

3. A new Denon 2808ci receiver is not the greatest value when you can get a used 5803 online for the same price. These really don't wear out. I believe a 5803 has a Toroidal Power Transformer and assignable outputs so you could bi amp the Von Schweikert or B&W front speakers, which could yield big sonic benefits. Both of those speaker systems are good enough that you would appreciate the greater power and resolution provided by the higher quality audio circuits and power management of the 5803 compared to the 2808ci. Digital out from your computer should sound terrific through a beast like this.

4. For HT purposes the Oppo is fine. A new Denon 2930 is $850 and and an older 29XX wont up-convert video to 1080p, save your money here for the next generation Bluray players. I would run the HDMI out of the Oppo directly to your Samsung. I would run digital audio out (coax or optical) to a 5803 or similarly capable reciever/processor and let it handle the conversion chores in either multichannel or 2 channel modes. The DACs in the 5803 are better and set up in a more sophisticated arrangement compared to the Oppo's on-board stuff.

No Rotel needed in this setup - although the pair suggested earlier could be a legitimate alternative to a big Denon.