I'm in the process of putting together my first "real" home audio and theater set-up. So far, I have purchased my display, HTPC/media server, and DVD player.

Now I am researching the audio portion of the system. For my money, this is the most important part of the package.

Focusing strictly on the audio, I am interested in everyone's thoughts on budgeting; specifically, is there any general rule of thumb regarding apportioning budget between pre/pro-amp, speakers, and sub?

Based on my research, I am considering anchoring the system with the 990/7200 combo. Because of budgetary constraints, I am also interested in recommendations for the best way to put things together in stages. For example, would it be better to buy my "final" mains and sub with the 990/7200, holding off on the center and surrounds (I am very into music, so the home theater aspect of the system, while important, is lower on my list of priorities), or should I consider a complete intermediate speaker set-up, and then trade up to a "final" system later? Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks in advance for all feedback.

The Current Set-Up:
Display: Westinghouse LVM-42w
HTPC: Sony VGX-XL2 Digital Living System + 1TB RAID 0 HDD Storage
DVD: Oppo OPDV971H (currently on its way back to exchange for the DV981HD )

Welcome to the forums!

If I was starting from the line I would make sure I was happy with the speakers and sub, and go backwards up the signal chain from there.

I'm still happy with my original HT speakers (over 10 yrs), and I've upgraded every other component since. Since I made the move to separates, I'd put the amp in as a close second, only because I'm confident I won't need additional channels any time soon. These days, any pre/pro buy is going to be trumped by future models fitted with HDMI 1.3 applications, so going with a 970 vs 990 would be a reasonable tradeoff if the money gets tight.

Hope this helps, I hope you enjoy the process of putting this together!

Speakers are probably the biggest single factor - they're the devices that actually reproduce the sound. I have seen some suggested divisions of budget (don't recall the specifics at the moment, I'm afraid) which put a goood emphasis on speakers. One important step is to demo some different speakers and let your ears be the judge, as speaker buying depends quite a bit on personal taste. A good power amp can also be a long-term investment, even if the processor gets changed out to support emerging technology (as sluggo points out).

If you are staging, I'd definitely lean toward getting your from soundstage now and adding surrounds over time. If you want to get into surround quickly, you could use some existing speakers or pick up something really inexpensive for temporary side surrounds. If your mains are floorstanders, you could even postpone the sub - I didn't add a sub until almost a year and a half after I bought my speakers, and if your mains can get down to 40Hz or so you won't lose much by delaying the sub purchase.