This weekend I convocated from University to get my MBA. My wife kept asking me what I wanted as a present for all my hard work. She told me I could get anything I wanted, so naturally I ask for permission to set up a home theater in the living room.

We have a home theater in a box system but she found it too unsightly in our living room so now it is upstairs in our bedroom. Doesn't make sense to me but I've been told that compromise is the key to a happy marriage.

The only restrictions she put on my future purchase is that there can not be any wires running across the floor (so it is a good thing that I haven't gotten around to finishing my basement so I can run wires without too much difficulty), and that the system can't be too obvious. No big speakers and it has to be mounted on the wall, which is something I was planning on doing anyway.

As I mentioned I have a home theater in a box already, which is a Sony Dream System with wireless rear speakers. I started doing some research into what I want to get and have read that wireless speakers do not offer high enough quality sound compared to the wired versions.

At this point all I know is that I want 5.1 because my living room is not set up to have a seven speakers because we have one open wall leading to the kitchen. And I want something good, but don't have an unlimited cash supply to get whatever I want.

I'm hoping that there are some readers out there that have done some research already about what type of system would be worthwhile and works well for them. Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated. If you don't want to post in the forum, send me an e-mail at gquirk@techinsights.com and let me know your thoughts!