Hank,
The first piece of equipment I would pursue would be a nice surround sound processor...you can tie your existing pre-amp to it via either your pre-amps pass thru function or if it does not have a pass through by setting it to unity gain when watching movies. After the processor I would go with the sub and you will be pleasently surprised how a nice sub can enhance your two channel listening as well. After the sub I'd do the surrounds and leave the center for last if ever. I had a center and have now opted to go phantom center and let the two fronts handle the task. My room is only 19 feet wide and the voices are staying centered even for those sitting off axis watching the film. You can find a center on Audiogon and test for yourself whether or not it brings a significant improvement to your movie watching..by the way the center channel I auditioned for six months was the Vienna Oratorio...a very nice center but at the end of the day I found that not having a center led to a more seamless integration with the Aerial 10T fronts. If you had fronts and a processor that do not image particularly well the center channel could well be more of a necessity...just my 2 cents worth...Enjoy the trip!
The first piece of equipment I would pursue would be a nice surround sound processor...you can tie your existing pre-amp to it via either your pre-amps pass thru function or if it does not have a pass through by setting it to unity gain when watching movies. After the processor I would go with the sub and you will be pleasently surprised how a nice sub can enhance your two channel listening as well. After the sub I'd do the surrounds and leave the center for last if ever. I had a center and have now opted to go phantom center and let the two fronts handle the task. My room is only 19 feet wide and the voices are staying centered even for those sitting off axis watching the film. You can find a center on Audiogon and test for yourself whether or not it brings a significant improvement to your movie watching..by the way the center channel I auditioned for six months was the Vienna Oratorio...a very nice center but at the end of the day I found that not having a center led to a more seamless integration with the Aerial 10T fronts. If you had fronts and a processor that do not image particularly well the center channel could well be more of a necessity...just my 2 cents worth...Enjoy the trip!