I don't know if I am the one who will come with a foolish response, but ...

1. Why are you not connecting cable tv to you receiver/TV?

2. Whay are you not connecting DVD to your receiver/tv?

That seriously makes me question what type of connections you will be doing ...

So, if the answer is, you are going to use DVD from the computer, then you need to have a sound card with digital output ... is the computer close enough to the receiver? people tends to like coax over optical. Anyway, it's going to be a LONG cable for the 75 ohms coax AND for the S-Video cables ...

Else, what do you want a 6.1 system for? what 6.1 sources will you have?

I used to play DVD's from my PC (it's progressive signal), but that requires a GOOD video output card, as well.

Assuming then that you are going for a DVD player instead, JVC 65K or Panasonic RP56 are good options (around $200 on circuit city)... your TV MUST have component video input on your TV ... go for it, it looks a lot better than s-video.

The 1050 will process your DVD's Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 or even Dolby digital 6.1 (with propietary algorithms) just fine, IF it gets a digital signal.

The other (more complex) road, is to output ANALOG audio from your DVD source into the 1050; for example, the audigy card can output 6 signals ... you will have to carry ALL of those and input them into the analog in of the 1050 to be able to have 5.1 audio ... but NOT Dolby Digital or DTS processing (it should be done by the sound card) ...

This is getting long, and I don't know if you still need help ...

Speakers: there's a lot of options, what do you mean sound richness? but more important, it's an apartment, how much space do you REALLY have? (think about what SHE is going to say) ... so, you have two options: the serious speaker systems (of which everybody already commented, my personal system is Paradigm Mini Monitors) or sub/sat speaker systems.

That said, there's a couple of sub/sat systems I really like (not at ALL like Bose crap) ... one is the AEGO from Acoustic Technology (AEGO 2 was highly praised by stereophile, they just released AEGO5), I have one and sounds very good ... if you can forget about lower bass (my neighbors complained all the time, so it has some bass, just not down to 20 Hz).

I've heard about a Canton System as well, but I have no personal experience with it, so I will not comment on them ... but the company is a very serious one.

[This message has been edited by nreyes (edited March 01, 2002).]