Looking for expert advice

[flyfree432]

Right now we are listening to our blu-ray movies through our tv speakers and I am shopping around for a surround sound system - something that I know next to nothing about.

We have a 40" 1080i TV with 1 HDMI input and a bunch of other inputs - 2 component, 1 S-video, and the other normal stuff. We currently have a 60GB PS3 hooked up to the tv via HDMI to watch our movies on. Our couch is about 5 feet away from the TV, and we can't practically move it back any further in our apartment. The setup of our apartment kinda sucks because it is one giant area for living room / dining room area. This will make it difficult to mount speakers and run wire (obviously we can't break into the walls, and it isn't a drop ceiling so we can't even run wire through the ceiling like we did in our last apartment). We will probably need stands for the rear speakers to go behind the couch and consider a wireless adapter.

I have a budget of $500-700 to start. I just finished shedding $5,000 of credit card debt and $14,000 for our car, with another $60,000 I'm working on for school loans. I'm simply not willing to do credit on a higher priced system, but wouldn't mind going with something that is upgradeable in the future as we save money for it. I'm just looking to get something, anything, other than tv speakers right now on that budget.

I had bought a $40 HTIB from Wal-mart, but I laughed when I heard the sound coming out of it and thought to myself, I better learn more about home theater systems. If you can let me know what might be the best thing to go with right now, what all I'll need to get and how to set it up, that would be great.

Thanks for your help.