I have to say that surround system has no interest for me, nor the hi res digital disc, (long live to vinyl! )
Consider another thing: if you blame "common people" for not caring audio quality, you should do it for visual quality too, infact there aren't any home screen, of any technology, that could compete with a good cinema's screen.
A surround system is useless if you like Truffaut or Fellini, and if you like "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Star Wars" or Kubrick you should have a real big screen.
I worked and still work in movie's and broadcasting industry and I can assure you that every movie's director did his movies for big screen. With a home screen you lost half of the movie!
I think the point is that usually "common people" chose things because they are cheap and user friendly. I couldn't blame people for it. I blame industry for not being able to produce cheap and user friendly stuff.