I've been an audiophile for about 30 of my 44 years. For most of my life, the audio system had to share space in the living room or family room. I got into Home Theater in 1997, with a modest system seperate from my serious listening setup. Of course, the bug bit me and I wanted the same kind of quality for movies that I enjoyed for music. As a military officer, I also have the challenge of changing rooms every two or three years. In 1998, a move to smaller digs in the UK forced me to combine my two systems. I got good results (great from a HT perspective!), but having a 34" TV sitting between the speakers always bothered me a little. After three years living in England, and a one year assignment in Alabama, I finally moved to a home with a finished basement that allowed me to set up a dedicated listening room with a front-projection home theater, which gives me close to the best of both worlds. It was worth the long wait!
Projector is a ceiling-mounted Plus Piano Avanti HE-3200, projecting onto an 82" Stewart Firehawk screen.
4 ASC Tower traps and 2 9" Full-round tube traps provide some acoustic treatment. (Full-rounds flank the L/R speakers to reduce first reflections.)
Would like to make the jump to 7.1 by adding Bryston 7B-STs to power the front two channels.
Anel - I think you're on the right track...the Bryston amp works very well with Thiels. I'd like to add Powerpoints myself at some point...I've heard great things about them. I have not heard the Thiel sub, but it's hard to imagine Jim Thiel putting anything on the market that wasn't pretty darn good.
System edited: System updated....added Bryston 7B-ST monoblocks for the front channels, and Atlantiv tech 354 as rear surrounds to bring the system up to 7.1 status. Also added some new 11" tube traps.
I should add a note of caution for anyone considering a basement home theater like this: if you opt for track lighting like I did, because it's easy to install, pay the extra dough for a low voltage track with a remote transformer, that you can locate well away from the listening area. It's not an issue with movies, because the lights are obviously off, but when the lights are dimmed but not off, the electronic transformers in most inexpensive track lights will buzz pretty loudly.
sgld - I'm very happy with the AVP2 upgrade, although I've only had limited time to listen since having it installed. But it sounds terrific. I did not opt for the +6, as I have not yet taken the plunge into SACD or DVD-A, and I'm reluctant to add a component that requires 6 new high quality interconnects. The Proceed is a fairly recent add, so I never really looked at the PMDT. That's a lot of cash for a DVD/CD player, but if Proceed (now Levinson) were to come out with a proprietary digital connection between the PMDT (or some new player) and the AVP2, I'd sure take a hard look at it.
Audiofile9 - thanks for looking. I don't get to listen to it as much as I'd like, of course, but it's a nice refuge when time permits! Someday I'd like to put acoustic baffles in the HVAC, so the sound wouldn't carry to the rest of the house.
