A little late in this thread, but thought I would throw in my two cents as I didn't see anyone mention this. When I started to build my HT, I had a budget. That budget decided a lot of things. Budget vs. desired end-result taking into consideration what I already had and what needed to be upgraded, ended up giving me a Outlaw 950 as one of the components. I use a 5.1 configuration because it allowed me to use all full speakers. The full size, floor standing speakers give me the sound engulfing feeling that would require many smaller speakers to duplicate given the budget. I use the same system for 5 channel stereo which provides a similar quality, room filling, sound. I would even go so far as to say 4.1 is enough in most budget limited rooms.

[This message has been edited by MeanGene (edited October 30, 2002).]