If you want surround sound, then get it. I'm sure they will charge more. I'm equally sure it will sound great for watching movies etc. if that is something you value. It will be cheaper to do everything at once than to decide later that you want it.

You're installing two speakers in each of eight rooms. That's sixteen speakers.

But you're whining about two more? Geez. WAAH.

At least let them run the wires and leave some blank cover plates where the surround speakers SHOULD (yes, I said should, not could. Should. Installing a large fancy system but intentionally crippling it is a dumb idea.) be so that a future homeowner with more sense can have them hooked up...

Surround (at least prologic, the very very very basic version) works well for most music too, btw.

Not sure about that there kumquat computer of yours...

"Simple". Yes, you can have simple, but I can add basic surround sound to your "simple" system for the cost of two speakers and a transformer. Less if, as I predict, you've already purchased a receiver that has a "true" surround sound decoder built-in.

My cost to add surround to your simple system would be far less than sixteen speakers.

Of course, if you're really looking for cheap, find a school building being torn down or remodeled, that was, built in the 70s or early 80s, and salvage their old Dukane paging system. Your music will sound like a phone receiver duct-taped to a megaphone, but it'll be simple, and you'll be rid of that pesky surround sound you're so deeply opposed to. You'll also have a really nifty PRIVACY button so your mac can't listen to you swearing back at it about the inferior noise you've chosen to subject yourself to.

That said, I don't know what you're planning to use to control/power your system, but alot of the multizone receiver/amplifiers I've seen still function as "standard" HT units, surround sound and all, so no, adding surround sound to one zone (as long as it's the primary one) does not make the difference between 'simple' and not. It's still one box, all you're adding is a few speakers and the associated cables to them.

Even if you choose not to install surround sound, is there a legitimately good reason not to AT LEAST run the wires anyway? Speaker wire isn't THAT expensive, especially compared to the rest of the costs we're talking about here.

And wouldn't you rather add some cables you don't need than decide you do need them later and have to rip your house apart again to add them? (or staple them in all sorts of visible/annoying spots?)

For your system with surround sound you will need a surround sound receiver as well as a russound/ similar unit. That is unless you buy a 2 zone surround sound receiver and put a speaker switch on the zone 2 output. Using the 2 zone option you really still need an extra amp to power that many rooms. In which case, you might as well use the money from the amp and switch box towards a russound unit. Instead of the computer, check out Russound's our which ever system's Ipod dock. It will allow you to change songs from the keypads.

If you use different people for different parts of the work, make sure they're on the same page with what you want. Like pre-wiring an audio feed to your computer for the music.

I have no h/w or s/w recommendations to make. But if this is new construction then I would say that you should pull the wires now for everything and make your hardware decisions later on. I'm assuming that since you used the word 'panel' you intend to run all the wiring to a central location, ie closet, that will house everything electronic. And you might as well pull both speaker and control (CAT5) now while you can.

Surround (5.1) is worth it if you watch movies and your room can do it. Having the wiring in place means that you can upgrade hardware at will.