80w max on the center? 120w on the fronts? This would be ok but OP wants to hear as he has hearing loss and would probably be listening at higher than normal volumes, which these speakers may start clipping at.
So a 2 Ghz i7 is as fast as a 2 Ghz Kabini processor? Since they're both 2 ghz.
This is NOT how wattage works. Wattage without considering sensitivity is the same thing as clockspeed without considering IPC.
You CAN NOT make this assumption unless you know about sensitivity and even then you still need to know about the individual components to get max listening level.
you could pick up 3-5 of these for not much money at all,
http://www.diysoundgroup.com/coaxial-speaker-kits/v8-volt-kit.html
pretty sensitive speakers that can take a TON of power, and get silly loud, great detail and coverage from them.
as for subs the Bic f12 is still a budget favorite. there are a lot of good inexpensive subs out there. i beleive there is a big listing of sub 300$ ones in the AVS Subwoofer subforum
I like this choice the best. When building a PC, you're saving maybe 10-25% of the cost by building yourself (Really don't know anymore as I don't go to places that sell pcs anymore).
When you build your own speaker it's a factor of 3. A speaker that costs 100 USD to build may perform the same as a speaker of 300 USD that you purchase. It can go much higher than that from 5-10 times depending on the build quality and how well components are picked/blend together. A LOT of speakers are sold primarily on advertising, build quality and build FINISH.
I may go with the HSU combo, still have to consider the diy. I haven't soldered anything in lot of years.
The price of DIY looks great I just hope I would not sacrifice anything in sound if i go that way.
What center would i use for those DIY book shelf's you linked-ed?
The point of DIY sites like that is people were EXTREMELY disatisfied with the industry and the compromises it makes to sell "aesthetic" speakers to people. Many people like towers, skinny speakers, horizontal small center channels, etc. DIY market wasn't getting the performance from speakers that they wanted, so they made their own no compromises designs (Or few compromises as possible).
I feel you're getting a lot of odd advice on here because there are real speaker/avs forum people who are enthusiasts that happen to also post here, and there are people who know a bit and post here but aren't real enthusiasts who will unknowingly give you misinformation.
There is so much information/things you can discuss it's hard to really fit it all into a thread, and the majority of it won't really be interesting stuff that you'll want to learn if you aren't an enthusiast. Just like 99% of PC buyers just want the best pc for the price and don't care about learning about it, 99% of HT buyers want the best speakers for the price and don't really care about learning the rest.
So ask yourself these questions:
-Can I Assemble/DIY?
If yes, I highly recommend as your money will go MUCH further.
-What finish do I want?
If you want a finish that you NEED to purchase as you are incapable of doing it or don't want to take the time (Piano black finish can take FOREVER to complete the correct way). I'd go commercial.
-How huge of an audiophile are you?
The more of an audiophile you are the more I suggest spending towards yoru limit, and towards going DIY. The more aesthetics/fitting in tight spaces/WAF (Wife acceptance factor) fit in the more I suggest purchasing that fits a specific space and that looks good to her.
If you decide not to assemble/diy then the next step is figuring out what speaker you want and for that, the best advice is go to a store and listen. Brands put their own spin on frequency response (boosting highs or boosting lows) that you need to decide what sound you like the best.
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