I just had my basement finished and am planning on adding in surround sound in pieces. It's not a very large space and you can see it here. This is the current set-up, just the tv and couch.

http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/xx172/hellcatphotos/Finished/IMG_4197.jpg

http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/xx172/hellcatphotos/Finished/IMG_4199.jpg

As you can sort of see in the pictures I have an XBOX360, PS3 and HD-DVR all currently hooked up through HDMI to a Samsung 58B650. So my plan is to get a receiver first(obviously) and the fronts and center channel. I prewired the room for surround sound when I had it finished so eventually I'll upgrade to 5.1. I'm trying to keep the system under around $1,500 and am spreading around the costs.

I'm not sure on a couple of points though. Do I really need a receiver with 3 HDMI inputs or can I simply run directly into the TV and then run optical audio back to the receiver? I'm no sure what kind of processing the tv has and if I'd lose any of the surround sound ability doing it that way. Also I'll only be in the house for 3 years so even if I don't run 7.1 here I will probably get a 7.1 receiver for future proofing purposes. I was also looking at the Marantz SR6001 receiver IF it works to just run the HDMI tv first that is. It seems like affordable floor standing speakers are the hardest part to find. Anybody know anything about Yamaha NS-225s? They're pretty cheap on Amazon.

there are two very good deals on floor standing tower speakers currently available, Jamo and Mirage
http://www.wwstereo.com/#/ecommerce/store/Speakers/33/-1/9_1_-1_103__0_0_0_-1/
and
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/542120734/mirage-omni-550-ch?s_c=site_search plus a Mirage center to match http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/548250588/mirage-omni-c150?s_c=site_search

mid range receiver with the HDMI inputs and HD audio codec decoding you might consider are the Denon 790 or the 1910; Onkyo SR607; or the Pioneer 1019 (just don't fully believe the stated power ratings, Pioneer fudges them a bit with only 2 channels driven)

Never heard of Jamo's before so I'll have to look into those. Certainly a good price from that site, a pair plus center channel for $270. Seems almost too good to be true.

Jamo is a Danish company and better known in Europe than in the US. They are owned by the Klipsch Group. These are their "entry level" speakers and are on a discontinued item sale. The prices are excellent and several of the models have already sold out. There is a Jamo thread on AVS forums and it is quite extensive.