Before one gets into all this, one should realize that even the room itself, speaker placement (vertically and horizontally), and the furnishing will play a major role in the acoustics (normal curtains, for example, will absorb the high frequencies). Designing a room for the "perfect" home theater system quickly becomes outrageously expensive.

I would advise @jaggernaut to use @D32's advice (separate DVD and amp) based on what is available in Nakumatt (for example) if you just want decent sound. On the other hand, if you want perfection and can afford it, hire the services of a home theater designer (do we even have any here in Kenya?) who will, if you don't have a separate room, force you to completely change your living room as you'll be customizing the room to meet a very specific need....with the attendant costs.

I myself have been using a Sony system I bought 11 years ago attached to DSTV and a Pioneer DVD player bought 11 years ago via optical inputs. The sound is fine for the occasional 5.1 surround sound movie. No complaints here.

me i swear by the harman kadon experience with a good basic sony dvd player...only need to get a great sound engineer to set up the piece since it can get quite complex to set up the whole shebang1

Harman Kardon is good,only drawback is technical support,took me two months just to get a place that had an inkling to the system.

@Papa; what is the problem with your equipment?

Why not take it back to the place where you bought it?

If out of the country, then any good electronics technician should be able to sort you out.