Home theater advice only really pertains if you are truly setting up a home theater with a lot of seating. In other words hardly anyone in the sweet spot. That's the real reason for all the channels. Because without the center channel people sitting way off center will hear the dialog coming from whichever speaker is closest instead of from the screen in the middle. Also all the effects coming from left or right, they will only sound right from the sweet spot, so everyone else needs the surround speakers to try and even things out.
It never works. No matter how many channels or how they are processed or how wonderful the speakers or how perfectly placed still no matter what it only ever sounds really good in the sweet spot. All you can possibly do by adding all the channels is degrade and debase whatever quality was there to begin with. Because that is the inevitable result of running it through anything multichannel.
I know. I tried. Been there. Done that. Satellites. Full range surrounds. All kinds of A/V receivers, and processors, and separates. Absolute total waste of time. And money.
Which according to the OP, $1k budget, you can afford to waste very little.
But hey, don't take my word for it. Seriously. Do not take my word for it. Go and listen. Go find the very best A/V receiver you can possibly afford. Then ask to compare it side by side with any integrated amp they happen to have in the store. ANY. If it takes you more than a nanosecond to realize the AV is crap then by all means buy it. Its what you deserve.
I mean that literally and not as an insult. No one should pay for performance they can't hear. Go and listen.
It never works. No matter how many channels or how they are processed or how wonderful the speakers or how perfectly placed still no matter what it only ever sounds really good in the sweet spot. All you can possibly do by adding all the channels is degrade and debase whatever quality was there to begin with. Because that is the inevitable result of running it through anything multichannel.
I know. I tried. Been there. Done that. Satellites. Full range surrounds. All kinds of A/V receivers, and processors, and separates. Absolute total waste of time. And money.
Which according to the OP, $1k budget, you can afford to waste very little.
But hey, don't take my word for it. Seriously. Do not take my word for it. Go and listen. Go find the very best A/V receiver you can possibly afford. Then ask to compare it side by side with any integrated amp they happen to have in the store. ANY. If it takes you more than a nanosecond to realize the AV is crap then by all means buy it. Its what you deserve.
I mean that literally and not as an insult. No one should pay for performance they can't hear. Go and listen.