Buying first surround sound system. $1000 budget.

The Energy Takes are very good small satellite speakers for the price for those that must have that small size. However, more full range bookshelf speakers will provide a better HT and music experience if you have room for the larger size. For example, Polk Monitor40 for the front L/R, CS2 center, and Monitor30 for the rear.

what size is your room ?

micro or satellite sized speakers will function well in a small room like a den or bedroom, but will be totally overwhelmed in a larger living room or open layout home.

See if you can still get an of the Energy lines that are sold at Vanns.

What happens is small satellites like the Energy Takes have no mid-bass. This means that the sub has to handle the mid-bass and the very low frequencies. It's typically better when the speaker handle some of that because

(a) Bass tends to become very localizable above 80hz. Since the Takes need a crossover of 120-150hz, this means you won't get the effect of the upper mid-bass coming from the individual speakers during HT usage. Bookshelves like the Polk can be crossed over easily at 80hz.
(b) It's hard to get an inexpensive sub that does the entire mid-bass range well and very low frequencies. For instance, the sub that comes with the Energy Takes in the 5.1 package does not go very deep in low frequencies. Enough for music, but there is plenty of low frequency content in movies that it won't produce. And it doesn't have much overall output, either. There are good budget HT sub choices that do much better with overall output and will produce more usable content down lower.

with a $1000 budget you could put together a very nice sounding system:

Agree with the above comments that Polks would outshine the Energy's because of the crossover

Polk Monitor 30's - pair for $100 (i've seen them go for $90) @ Newegg
Polk CS1 Center - $100 @ Newegg
For rear's you could get the same Monitor 30's - which puts you at $300 total for speakers.

I'm partial to BIC for subwoofers, and LOVE my v1220 which can be found for ~190 at a certain online river retailer

This leaves you with ~$500 left over for a receiver, wires, (or to upgrade the fronts or have money leftover!) - and a system that will rock the energy's.

Better to go with the Polk CS2 center. There have been complaints about the dialogue intelligibility of the CS1 on AVS; the CS2 is acknowledged to be much better.

And I'd go with the Polk Monitor40s, too, for the front sound stage benefit. Then spend a little less on the receiver. A $200-$300 entry-level receiver can work very well for this budget.

Good point - I have the cs2 myself (might want to wait on it, because it will go for cheaper than the $150 it is right now on Newegg). Couldn't fit the 40s in my setup at the moment, but couldn't agree more that they'd be a great choice for the $ if space isn't an issue.

As for receivers and subwoofers, you can easily find very nice function receivers for ~300 (pioneer/onkyo are great choices), and there are a few really nice subwoofers in the $200 range (BIC v1220 is my choice, but BIC f12, and there's a polk sw505, i think? can also be had for similar money)

Yep. Those three are some of the best choices for entry level HT subwoofers. And a $300 Onkyo, Pioneer, Denon or Yamaha would work fine

For the rears, the Monitor 40s vs the 30s will have less impact on the sound than having the 40s vs 30s in the front sound stage.

When you are ready to upgrade to 7.1, you could get the Polk Monitor 60s or 70s. For that matter, unless you are in hurry to have full surround sound, you might start with the M60s or M70s in the front with the CS2, and then wait until you can afford the rear speakers. The M60s are $129 ea at the moment. If you listen to music much, you would definitely appreciate the sound of the M60s over the M40s. And if you move to a small apartment, might be hard to setup 7.1 system in the room.

If you plan on doing a lot of music listening, then the M70s would be worth it. If mainly just HT, you might not notice a lot of difference.

5 NHT SuperZero 2.0 and an Outlaw, HSU or Epik sub.

Yes!

When in doubt get the 70's. I have both and have tried both for mains for movies and music. For music, no contest the 70s provide a more enveloping sound stage over my 60's. For movies, the difference is less noticeable when there is a capable sub present,. With out a sub with certain films I did notice the 70s being a tad fuller over the 60's.

i also recommend you start with the mains fist and then focus on the surrounds as your budget allows, that is how I did it. Over about 8 months I built up my polk monitor set a little at a time. I started with the 70's. Added 60's for surrounds, then added the CS2. Later added 30's for heights. Then for the hell of it I got a set of 40's and a cs1 to use in my bedroom

I have moved and my new room is bigger so my set up has changed some. Currently I am running 70's as mains with the 60s as wides and 40s as surrounds. The 30's along with the CS1 are now in the bedroom.

Some thoughts regarding the cs1 and cs2 centers....I wouldn't recommend running the cs1 with the 70's or 60's. However the cs1 blends nicely for me with both the 30s and 40's. I too have heard of people having dialog intelligibility issues with the cs1, but i cannot say that I have experienced that with the cs1 paired with either the 30s or 40s. Granted the cs2 is superior, but the cs1 does work very well with the monitor bookshelf models

For $1000 I would out most of it towards speakers.....like $700 - 750. I think the Polk 70's and the CS2 is a solid soundstage. The BIC is a solid sub. I would also just get cheepo surrounds for now as they will have the smallest overall impact. I think the the Denon AVE-1713 for $299 at A4L right now is VERY hard to beat. That would be a solid starter HT and something to build on when needed. A common mistake is people spending way too much on amplification and not speakers. I get a kick out of people who buy an expensive receiver or separate amps.....to drive $200 speakers....it's pointless. Your mains and your sub is what the money needs to go to....

You can get MultEQ XT with the 1712 - the highest level 5-channel model. There's no XT on the 1912 (lowest 7-channel model), but XT returns to the line-up with the 2112.

The 1712 is a good, bang for the buck receiver.