This system took me about 5 months to build which is pretty astonishing considering I was running a 10 year old Harmon Kardon Receiver with 15 year old Pawn shop JBL l/r speakers. However, I did it the right way in that I saved my butt off for a few years (my wife and I did actually) and bought a TV with it. All cash. No credit! None of this American-style buy now pay later crap. Anyways, its pretty ordinary as far as Audiogon goes but I love it. I definitely want more front end with some B&W towers or some other brand (Revel maybe? B/c I think its American made) I need some better speaker wire, a better amp/receiver combo and a good quality UPS/surge protector to keep my stuff safe. Any suggestions are welcome.
EDIT: I have totally revamped my system over the last few years. I changed my processor to a Yamaha 765 and switched to external amplification from Emotiva (LPA-1, from Craigslist). I then picked up a set of B&W 602 s3's with stands that are great. They put out significantly more sound than the 601 s3's I previously had. I now have Klipsh rears for all those accent surround sounds. The coolest part now though is that I installed all of it in a closet behind where the TV is mounted. Therefore, I got a remote to work with this. I went the RF route to avoid the issues with IR repeaters. The Universal MX-450 remote works like a charm as well and is very well built (paired with the RF-260 unit receiver).
bought at a random website for $370 new a few years ago.
B&W asw600
bought used off of audiogon for $265.
B&W htm62
bought used on audigon for $325
Blue Jeans Cable 10 AWG white sleeve/ 14 AWG
Blue Jeans Cable makes really quality stuff for really cheap. I got 10AWG for the fronts/center and 14AWG for the rears. All in white sleeves. The white blends in really well as they come out of the wall and can still be seen.
Sony ps3
I am running a ps3 as a bluyray player for home theater, music hub for mp3's and cd player. Its got a pretty sweet interface but you have to have video on to play it. You cant just plug in a cd and listen immediately. Its worth it though.
Emotiva LPA-1
7 channel amp. 63lb beast. 5x125W + 2x50W for surrounds.