I should probably put this under the "Done for now" section, as for the first time in a long time, I have a matched home audio and home cinema system that I'm happy with. I no longer relentlessly trawl Audiogon and E-Bay for major components. My main challenge now is putting it all in a too-small New York city apartment.

Prior to this setup, my rather messy system comprised a Marantz SR6200 receiver, a Playstation 3, a set of B&W600 series3 speakers and a massive B&W ASW750 subwoofer. Over the past year and a half, I re-built the system. I started by adding the AVR300, which made an astonishing difference to music and movies. I upgraded my front B&W602.5s to the Totem Forests and added the Arcam DV137 as my A/V source. Then I added the Rainmakers to replace my rear B&W601s and sold the subwoofer because it was just too overpowering in my small space. Finally I added the Model-1 Signature Centre channel to replace the B&W LCR60 centre speaker.

I am bi-amping the Forests using the spare 2 rear channels of the AVR300. I have two runs of Kimber 8TC cable going to each speaker. I have a short run of Tara Labs speaker cable going to the Model-1 centre. I have generic white speaker cable going to the rear Rainmakers.

For interconnects, I have Kimber Hero cable between the DVD player and the CD input on the AVR300. I use the Stereo Direct function on the AVR300 when listening to CDs. I have a Monster coaxial cable running between the DVD player and the DVD input on the AVR300.

My PS3 is hooked up to the TV using HDMI and to the AVR300 using optical cable. My cable box is connected to the TV via component cable, but I'm wondering whether to run all my sources through the AVR300 using component cable, or to upgrade to the new AVR600 to take advantage of HDMI switching for the DVD, cable box and PS3.

Power-wise, I use Monster HTS 2500 power centre. All the components run off that.

I'm pretty happy with the system. Musically it's good and movies are excellent. People who come around are always impressed. Even Guitar Hero 3 sounds amazing!

Suggestions, comments and feedback are all welcome.