Very true, you should be able to find cheap shit on ebay… at the lower end of the spectrum it should be easy to put together a budget system.
G, my home theatre setup sans-tv cost me ~$500 with all speakers.
Cheap Denon receiver
Paradigm Model 9s (main)
Niles OS-10 (rear)
Cerwin-Vega (center)
Mission 10" sub in a JL box