Skimping on audio?

[quarters]

I must say that I am one of these people. The problem for me is that as this was my first experience wth HDTV and a home theater experience per se, I was/am very unimformed and inexperienced with the sound aspect and what is needed. I was only really focused on getting a great picture. When it came time to get a sound system, piecing it all together and understanding it all seemed so confusing that I decided to go with a HTIB. I figured I needed something with HDMI connectivity and found that it was all pass through and the optical was the way to get the sound through. So I found a Yamaha HTIB at BB and was told by the salesman that optical will do the job. I now know that it won't and I think the receiver is not capable of achieving the highest of quality sound anyway. I get DD and DTS but I don't think true HD or DTS master audio. In a nutshell I'm sure I have still no idea of what I'm talking about and the audio takes a lot more "studying" to figure out.