A lot of it depdnes on the size of the room you are going to be watching the tv in. Unless its a really large room, you can get a good system for a pretty good price. Most of the newer surround systems have all the features that you will need. I would buy the componets seperately though. Your right about buying one of the box type systems. It’s hard to upgrade on those. Buy as much as you can afford and you should be happy.