Dude, I think you are gonna be SOL for anything under $250.

I put one in on a budget and wound up with over 1K.

Granted, I had to get a new receiver but when you factor speakers, sub-woofer, center channel speaker etc etc you are gonna find it really adds up.

I bought from Crutchfield and spent $300 on a set of Polk wall mount speakers, $200 on Polk center channel speaker, $200 on Infinity Sub and about $350 on new Pioneer Receiver.  I opted out on rear chanel speakers.

You might get one of those Aiwa shelf jobs for around 300-400 though.

God Luck

Do you mean $2,500.00? I don't think you can buy a surround sound (home theater - DD ot DTS) for anywhere near that price.

Tyler

Phillips, Aiwa, and Sony make systems for slightly more than that price but they all have terrible sound quality.  About the cheapest decent sounding system is one of the Yamaha pre-packaged setups around $700.  Harman Kardon makes one as well around the same price but with less features.

Do you have anything to start with? Speakers, anything? Or is this being built completely from scratch?

$250 is a good start. It should be enough to purchase your center channel speaker.

For $250 I'd go with stereo, not surround.  Get a throwaway amp (you'll likely be upgrading it later) and a pair of nice speakers.  My favorites for the speakers are Cerwin-Vega and JBL.  Later you can add a bigger amp and some speakers for rear and center channels.  Ignore the small speakers currently being peddled as center or surround speakers - they're generally not great for sound and positively suck at bass.  Nice sub/satellite systems are excepted, of course, as they make excellent surround speakers and good centers albeit most are a bit low in power handling capacity.  The ideal center speaker would be identical to your main left/right speakers, preferably with a 12-15" woofer and lots of power handling.  If you've got smaller woofers you can firm up the bass b adding a powered subwoofer.  Nice EQs also help.  

Unless ... you reaally want surround sound for $250, in which case a bottom end Sony surround sound amp and cheap speakers all round might be able to fit into that price range.  Big difference in sound though, primarily in the bass but also in volume and a bit of clarity and fidelity.  A cheap n cheerful setup might use a lower end sub/sat system or pair of bigger speakers (big diameter woofers) as the front speakers in order to give a bit better bass.

I used to sell audio.

You better wait til you can add another zero to that figure. I just spent about $3000 on a new setup myself, and that was definately no where near the top of the line equipment, or even the middle of the road equipment.

For 250, all your gonna get is real mediocre systems at best.  I know Aiwa makes a surround mini system.  The problem is that everyone that I know who owns an Aiwa mini system has had problems with the cd player after about 2 years.

My recommendation for a kick@ss system:

Top-ish end integrated amplifier from any of the major producers.  Three Cerwin Vegas (high sensitivity, which means more volume/bass for less input power) with 15" woofers up front, plus a powered sub and a pair of bookshelf Vegas (also high sensitivity to keep pace with the monsters up front) in the rear. At least a kilowatt of power.  Harman-Kardon EQ.  A biiig yard so as not to frighten pets and small children in the neighborhood.  This will rattle your windows, and your neighbors' too if circumstances are right.  I once watched the opening sequence to Terminator 2 on a rig similar to the above - neighbors two apartment buildings down phoned the police to tell them that there had been a car crash...  [%|]

Edited for typo

I bought a Kenwood Home Theater In a Box system for about $300.

Powered sub, DD 5.1 receiver w/digital in, and speakers.

Not top of the line, but surprisingly not a crap system either. I replaced the sub with something more powerful, but everyone who has stopped by has been impressed with it. Even the ones who spend a boatload of money on theirs.

Edited to say you can get them at Circuit City.

Dude,

Here is what I went with:

Receiver: Denon AVR3200 but the newer model has DTS
Speakers: M&Ks all around (great upper and midrange sound for movies; pretty good for music)
Subwolfer: M&K (I forget the model number) it rocks the house

The set up was a little more than $250 though.

When friends come to visit all they can say is:
[size=6]WOW![/size=6]

As everyone has said, no system for $250 is going to be even remotely worth listening to.

If you're on a budget, I'd go with the following:

Receiver: Outlaw Audio 1050 6.1.  It'll do 6.1 audio (front left, front right, front center, rear left, rear right, rear center and subwoofer (the .1 in 5.1 and 6.1)).  I used to subscribe to all the A/V and home theater magazines, and they rave about this thing on and on.  It generally gets compared to the flagship models of other manufacturers like Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon, etc. which are all $3k+ in price.  The 1050 is only $499.  It's rated at 6x65 watts, but that's a real power rating, and competes well with the 5x100 you'd hear on a sub-$1000 receiver.

Speakers: I personally like Klipsch, but they can get expensive.  I honestly can't name a good set of value speakers, as you really do get what you pay for in this area.

Sub: Nothing beats Velodyne for good subs at decent prices.

Don't let those "audiophiles" bum your freak.  Get a Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble IV system when the have their half off clearance sale.  It will be about what you're looking at and it will sound pretty good.  Sure, more expensive stuff may sound better and louder, but you can get a decent sounding system like the one above and be perfectly happy.

That's a really big room, if it were much smaller, I'd suggest one of the cheaper systems, but you'd kill it in that kind of space. Save your money up and go with something nice.

I've had about 6 total systems, my first was a ht-in-a-box deal, it was nice, but then again, my room is just 12x11. Since then, I've probably blown about $20,000 on gear, but I'm a nerd, so I'm allowed to do that.

Find a HT shop in your area, they can help you with almost any budget. Save up about $1500 to 2000 and you'll be able to get something rather nice.

I have a Definitive Technologies ProCinema 100 setup right now, but they suck for music, so my new system will be as follows:
B&W CM 4s for main l/r
B&W CM 2s for surrounds
B&W CMC Center
SVS sub (not sure which model yet... I may get two)
The rest of the equipment I already own...
Toshiba 40H80 16:9 hdtv
Yamaha HTR5280 receiver
Panasonic DVDRP91N DVD/DVD-Audio player.

I really want to open up my room, but I need to get a contractor in here to see if it's possible, the house was built in 1914, and every wall is probably a load-wall. Maybe I can get trusses or something. Or maybe I've been watching too much This Old House. :)

Outlaw Audio 1060 reciever: 499.00 30day in your home satisfaction money back guarantee. Direct mail order.http://www.outlawaudio.com

Energy "Take Five" system. Front,center, and surrounds. Good Guys has 'em. Around 500.00 Skip their sub and go with;

Hsu Research sub VTF-2.  499.00  30day in home satifaction money back guarantee. Direct mail order http://www.hsuresearch.com/

Did you say 250.00?

Badges? We donneedno stinkin' badges.
Great to see some other Outlaws.
[url]http://www.outlawaudio.com/rules.html[/url]
Their new stuff is going to be brutal.

Cambridge is kewl.  But, these guys get my money for reproduction accuracy regardless of cost.  They get chosen by more manufactures for awards than any other and my worthless ears agree.  
[url]http://www.atlantictechnology.com/index.html[/url]

Now, for your computer speakers:
[url]http://www.monsoonpower.com/[/url]
I grabbed the M1000s.

Dave S

I am an old David Hafler, Threshold, Martin-Logan fan.  

You can barely buy a DVD player for $250. I'd plan on spending a LOT more if you want decent sound.

I have a Pioneer VSX-27TX receiver and now have almost all the money needed to buy new speakers. Paradigm for me thanks!  Their Servo 15 sub will help settle your foundation! I've heard though the the Hsu units are incredible, especially for the price.

Toys are cool!

$250...Now that we have the wiring and required optical cables covered.....

You hit that right on the head Cleatus.  By the time you buy quality speaker wire, Optical audio cables for you DVD, Optical audio cables for you CD Player/Changer, Component Video Cables for DVD, powered sub cables, and all of the other audio cables you need to link all of your components together you are looking at about $500+ dollars if you go with the mid-grade Monster Cables.

I started out with a Kenwood system from Circuit City.  After having it about 1 year I started to replace the speakers one at a time.  There is a huge difference in sound quality between the new system and the old system.  Here is the new configuration.

Center Channel: Polk Audio CS400i,  Fronts: Polk Audio RT1000i,  Surround: Polk Audio Fx300i
Powered Sub: Polk Audio Ps250  

I bought these all piece by piece and now have a decent system.  I wish I would have save the $400 I spent initially on the Kenwood system and put it towards the end product.  Home theater components are almost as addicting as guns.  Whatever you get now, you will want more later.