Im looking to buy a blu-ray home theater system. I don't want to clean out my savings for one, but I also don't want one that isn't worth the money. Any suggestions on a good buy?
There is no such thing as a good "home theater system"... meaning there is no such thing as a good HTiB. You will definitely be throwing away your money if you buy one. With a little more effort and research you can piece together a system buying different components from different manufacturers.
You need separate components...
A Blu-Ray player: Most brands are ok, prices range from under $100 to a few thousand. You probably want to get one that can stream other sources like Netflix etc. For convenience you may want to get one with built in wireless. You can get everything for under $200.
An AVR (Audio Video Receiver): This is the control center where everything else connects. It will have inputs for connecting your Blu-Ray player, cable box etc and outputs to the TV and speakers. The amplifiers for all the speakers with the exception of the subwoofer are built in. Look at brands like Onkyo, Denon, HK... expect to spend over $500 for anything even remotely decent. You don't really get to anything really good until you get over about $1200.
Speakers: These are the most subjective. It's best you listen for yourself. Stay away from electronics manufactures like Sony, Pioneer, etc because these companies make horrible speakers. Go with a company that specializes in making speakers like Klipsch etc. You will need a left/right main speaker, a center speaker, and left/right surround speakers... five speakers in all. Tiny ones look cute and don't take up much space but sound quality suffers. Sometimes size does matter.
Powered Subwoofer: It's hard to find a good subwoofer. There are some decent ones from companies like SVS but I suspect $2000 just for the sub is probably above the budget you had in mind. Emotiva makes some decent stuff for a lot less, hopefully within budget... http://emotiva.com/ultra_sub12.shtm
Those home theater in a box are not very dependable, when one item fails the whole system needs to be replaced. They are not flexible for adding anything to them or upgrading. The are mainly designed for you to watch a movie with surround sound. The only system I would recommend is the Onkyo HT-S3400, it is a 5.1 receiver and a set of speakers, just add a Panasonic blu ray disc player and you have a nice system. You can connect you tv to the system and have the sound come out in surround sound when it is encoded with Dolby Digital. The cost of the whole system is around $500. Demo the system at any Fry's Electronic retail store. Hope this will help you out.