Hey everyone,
Just thought I'd spark some discussion by throwing out the question of what people's home theatre setups were like.
I pieced together a decent system for a university student a few years ago, and although some of it is still fine (mainly the speakers) I've been starting to drool over newer items, which I'm holding off on. I haven't even gone HD yet, since I hate how SD cable looks on an LCD screen and I also don't want to have to start shelling out more for HD cable, which doesn't even offer most of the channels I like in HD. At least we're starting to see some channels that *aren't* sports networks offered in HD because it was pretty depressing there for a while.
So I'm currently waiting for one hell of a deal because when I do make the switch I'll have to upgrade my TV/Receiver/DVD Player (haven't decided if I'd go BluRay or not but at this point I'm leaning towards not bothering) and TV Stand... and I'm quite picky about how that stand looks in my house so that might be more of a process than it sounds.
Ok, so here's the list of what I'm running now (photos to follow if I get the chance before going on vacation):
TV: Panasonic Tau 32" (Flatscreen CRT)
When I got it I found the picture quality to be on par with the lower-end Sony Wega's, which isn't amazing for a CRT but definitely decent and a lot cheaper than the $2000+ XRB Wega's that are much better (my parents had one so I was spoiled by it a bit). The sound seems to be a bit flaky on it due to all the plugging in and unplugging of cables to the front input connector I do when hooking my laptop up to it so I'm starting to look at a media device for my future displays that will always stay plugged in. Not an HTPC per say but one of those small media boxes you can get. Other than that I really like the look of it as well. It's "box-ier" than most TV's, which is great because I have a huge center channel speaker on top of it that isn't perched there precariously.
Receiver: Kenwood 5.1 Dolby Digital / DTS
The two Kenwood pieces I bought were my main regret with this home theatre. The receiver sounds ok, but definitely not great. I would almost compare it to my Dad's old Sony 5.1 receiver and I'm not a fan of Sony for audio really. On top of that it seems to be developing an issue where it sends too much of a signal to my subwoofer and every once in a while (about an hour or so) it discharges it all at once... it sounds like someone is knocked on the door. I thought it was my old subwoofer before this one causing it but apparently not, because it's doing it with the new one as well.
DVD Player: Kenwood 5 Disc Changer
Why oh why did I get a changer? Oh right, because I was in university and the prospects of loading it with music discs and letting it go all night for a party sounded good... and it was, but for movie's it's a pain. It takes forever to load and unload discs to it and my Eastlink remote, which can operate it, can't switch the discs, so I have to get up to change discs anyways. It's also not the greatest at playing DVD-R/RW's.
Speakers: Athena Audition Series and 10" Paradigm Subwoofer
I love my speakers. They sound great with music and movies and it just kills me they aren't hooked up to a $1000 receiver, which they deserve to be. A friend of mine liked the speakers so much that he ran out and bought the same ones, except the bigger models (damn him for not going to university and getting a job instead *shakes his fist*), and he has recently upgraded his receiver to a Marantz and they sound great.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing what other people have... it's a slow day here at work.
. The speakers are some Audiovox 3way dealies that were in my first car. Needless to say, I'm looking to replace this.
