SteveJr -- I'd agree... to a point. In the roundtable, Ben also mentioned that I was probably the only one whose "investment" in audio came close to the video. I myself use a Rotel receiver and ACI speakers, and like you, have never regretted the money spent -- all said and done, probably coming in around $3k. But the money spent to put together what I consider to be very good sound isn't really close to the cost to get the same relative level of visual quality, especially when you factor in that the receiver does a lot of video lifting, it's pretty easy to spend that kind of money on a display+disc player+DVR. I'm totally with you on getting decent quality sound, however. But in the market today, especially with internet-only audio gear manufacturers (no internet-only display manufacturers yet), you can get really good sound for relatively little money. And yes, it's money well spent, especially when you probably won't change audio equipment nearly as often as still-evolving video tech.
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SteveJr --
I'd agree... to a point. In the roundtable, Ben also mentioned that I was probably the only one whose "investment" in audio came close to the video. I myself use a Rotel receiver and ACI speakers, and like you, have never regretted the money spent -- all said and done, probably coming in around $3k. But the money spent to put together what I consider to be very good sound isn't really close to the cost to get the same relative level of visual quality, especially when you factor in that the receiver does a lot of video lifting, it's pretty easy to spend that kind of money on a display+disc player+DVR.
I'm totally with you on getting decent quality sound, however. But in the market today, especially with internet-only audio gear manufacturers (no internet-only display manufacturers yet), you can get really good sound for relatively little money. And yes, it's money well spent, especially when you probably won't change audio equipment nearly as often as still-evolving video tech.