Anyone knows surround systems? Need recommendation

Hi,

I now have the budget to buy a home theatre and I really want the best for my money. I'm looking for something moderate (I'm a student) like below 400$. I want the perfect system to hook up my Xbox 360 to, and I don't need HDMI at all. I don't want any built-in DVD, just receiver and speakers. All I'll hook up to it is an optical cable. I want it mainly for listening to rock and metal shows (need good bass), and obviously for gaming. So far I've compared the RCA RT2770, Sony HT-DDW990 and Pioneer HTP-2900 and the Pioneer one seems really sweet. Anyone with knowledge in audio can help me out?

If your going to go for one of those 3 htiab setups, go for the sony. Sure, its 880 in bass, but it actually has an hdmi port. Though, to actually get that hdmi use for your sound, you'll have to do a tid bit of looking around to get it to work. A little tricky. Even so, at least you'll have a great dvd player. The 360 and ps3 ones have bad sharpness problems *no matter the settings*, so its good to have a standalone player like the sony home theatre in a box that upscales. The pioneer and rca look more basic.

Oh and one more thing. Since the sony probably has a newer firmware model. don't expect to get hdmi sound. Otherwise, its not a bad set.