I recently bought a Mits 73-833 DLP and it is hooked up to a Comcast HD-DVR. I want to buy a surround system but am completly confused. I need suggestions. TV has 4 HDMI inputs if that matters. I think ease of operation would be my biggest emphasis. Its for a very large basement.
I guess I would like to keep it under $1500ish. I like the look of floor standing speakers, but nothing is a "have to". Is there any way to hook up a surround system where no matter what is showing on the tv, its automatically on the surround. Ya know, without all the remote controls.
Yup. Just hook up the cable box to the receiver, and the receiver will take care of the rest.
As Casey mentioned, there are a lot of choices out there: brands like Polk, Infinity, JBL, Paradigm, Energy, Klipsch, etc all make solid speakers in your price bracket. In addition, Marantz, Harman Kardon, Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, etc all make decent receivers worth considering.
If I were in the market for a system today, I'd probably go with Infinity speakers and a Harman Kardon amplifier. Given that Infinity is a Harman International company, it makes some sense that the combination will work well together. And of course, they sound very good for the money put in. However, this could be said of any number of combinations, and what matters is what sounds good to you. As such, I would hit up a few shops, listen to their wares, and see what strikes your fancy.
The R50 is definitely decent for the price; just depends on what kind of sound you're looking for though. Obviously at 140 a pair, they aren't God's gift; but on the other hand, you could do much worse and pay much more (Bose cubes for example...). In either case, give em a listen and see what you think.
As far as the subwoofer goes, presuming you like your bass, I would look more towards the likes of Hsu or SVS, or if you're opposed to Internet direct, Velodyne. For $4-500, you can get a pretty mean sub that can fill a room like nothing Polk offers.