First off, as this is my first post, I 'd like to admit my ignorance in the topic of home theater. Regardless, as I get more interested in it, the more questions I have.
As I plan to move into a small apartment with a living room no bigger than with the dimensions of ~200 square feet, I'm wondering how powerful I will need my speakers and amplifier to be. My budget right now is around $1,000-1,500 for my audio set up. I've read a lot of good things across various sites regarding the Pro Cinema 800 and 1000 systems. Would the 800 system be too much for a small living room?
My second question involves how much of one's budget they should devote toward the speaker system and how much they should devote toward the A/V receiver. In certain places I've seen people spend more on the a/v than the speakers, and other places I've seen the opposite. Is there a golden rule?
Undoubetdly it would be important to go to a store and hear the speakers and receivers, but for now, I'd love anyone's opinion.
The only golden rule is how much gold you have to spend to make any rules...
My personal set-up involves more money on the speakers. I can always change my source unit as I have the speakers I want and will more than likely keep them as technology moves on.
You ask if certain units are too much for the space you have alloted, of course, but there is always the volume control. The upgrade bug starts when the unit you have becomes too small for your space.
I'd suggest investigating how well your apartments is insulated for sound first. If it's not so good, maybe get speakers with descent bass and leave out the sub? If you don't feel like too much of a dork, you could even visit the neighbour with a sound level meter, it'll be handy for your setup anyway (I don't know how good auto setups are these days?).