Sorry, I should have clarified more about the setup...
Here's a drawing of the room:
Code:
12'
-----------
|L C R|
| screen |
| |
| |
|S seat S| 18'
| |
| proj |
|S S|
-----------
I was worried that the two surround speakers on either side of the seating area would be too close to the listeners. The L/C/R and two rear surrounds are okay, but the side surrounds might be too close in a 7.1 setup, so that's why I was thinking 5.1 might be adequate?
If 7.1 would be a waste of speakers and the side surrounds too close to the listerners anyway, then I would probably spend the $$$ on a nicer sub.
Thanks!
EDIT: Looks like the consensus is so far I need a bigger sub
It sounds like a bigger sub would add more value than a pair of side surrounds. As far as not using the setup for music, I'm sure it would be awesome for music, I'm just not much of a music listener. This setup will probably be 100% used for multichannel movie viewing. I'm a big movie nut, never got much into music or TV. That's why I've got to reserve about $500 for <a href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=11&k=popcorn%20machine" onmouseover="window.status='popcorn machine'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">popcorn machine</a>